All We Are
by MissBesanii
Summary: "...Is everything that's right." When Ash and Brock say goodbye to Dawn, who's there to pick up the pieces? What happens when he leaves too? Ikarishipping. Rated T to be on the safe side.
1. Paint The Picture

**All We Are  
><strong>_By Besanii-Chan_

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><p><strong>Prologue<br>**_Paint the Picture_

Having said goodbye to close friends before, I thought this one would be easy. It turned out it was harder. Harder than you can imagine.

I think it was because this friendship had been so hard to accomplish. With Ash and Brock, friendship was handed out freely, and it was hard to say goodbye to them because they were my rocks, the strength that had gotten me to where I am now.

With Paul, however, I had to use the strength I had gained in order to persist in being friendly with him.

Let's face it, he's not the most sociable of people.

No, but still. I had persisted. I'll start from the beginning. (Well, not the very beginning, we all know what happened there...) We spoke the day before his battle with Ash; civilly, to my surprise. He'd willingly told me things that I had never dreamt he would tell me, but maybe he was lonely. Maybe he'd been strong and alone for so long that I only had to say a few simple words and he was talking. Either way, that conversation ignited a bond I never thought would be possible.

I remember the battle, attack by attack. I remember being conflicted in my own mind, over who to support. Should I have supported Ash? He'd supported me since day one. Or Paul? He had very little in the way of support, and yet I watched the whole thing and believed he would win like he did every other time.

It was surprising when Ash came out the victor. Of course, I was estatic for him, he'd spent so long in Paul's shadow and finally came out on top. But it was inevitable that I would be torn after my internal conflict. My exterior was cheering for Ash, my heart was crying out for the crestfallen boy just across the arena. His ego severly beaten, he sighed and nodded in recognition to Ash and Infernape, even showing concern as the pokemon stumbled from weakness. As the two victors celebrated, I clapped absent-mindedly and watched Paul leave silently. I think I may have been the only person watching, as nobody else seemed to notice his departure, despite the incredible talent he'd shown in his previous battles. He deserved acknowledgement, at least. Perhaps that's the way things were in the training world, unless you're winning, you don't get the attention.

I made sure to consolidate him that night, and congratulating him for making it as far as he did. He shrugged it off like he usually did, but he didn't snap at me like I'd expected. I pushed my luck further, sitting next to him on the bench as he watched the torch burn brightly.

His words were; "Why aren't you celebrating with Ash?"

My answer was simple; "Because he has Brock."

"And you pity me?" He assumed.

"No." I was quick to reply, but I made sure my voice was soft and not defensive. "I'm here because... I know what it's like to lose to a rival."

He seemed genuinely shocked by my honesty, and perked an ever-furrowing brow as he peeked over to me. "I saw."

"You did?" It was my turn to raise my eyebrows in surprise.

He nodded back; "I don't understand coordinating, but you made a quick comeback."

I was a little confused by his words, but I realised he wasn't all that good with compliments (what with his lack of practice). This was his way of showing his was impressed. My face lit up; "Thanks."

He nodded again. Silence swept over us in that stealthy way, but I was not uncomfortable there. The torch was a great distraction, it crackled brilliantly against the orange-pink hued sky. We stayed in that companionable quietness until the street lamps flickered to life, and we began to walk for the dormitories after brief agreement to do so.

"Are you staying here until the end?" I asked.

He nodded; "I'd like to see how your friend does against that Darkrai."

I shuddered, I hadn't seen this Tobias battle yet, but from what Barry and Conway had told me, I knew he wasn't a pushover. Maybe Ash would have been better off losing to Paul. Surely there were rules against using legendary pokemon in the Sinnoh League...

"What do you plan to do after the League?"

The question had taken me off guard, seeing how I'd been distracted by the regulations of this tournament. I glanced over to Paul, who was waiting for my answer, and then looked at the floor.

"Truth be told, I have no idea." I chuckled. I could see him smirking in my peripherals.

"You and me both."

"Really?" My voice raised in pitch. He fliched away slightly at my feminine squeal. I was quick to explain myself (in a lower tone, of course). "You don't seem like the type of person to not have a plan."

"Neither do you, yet here we stand." As if to prove a point, he stopped at the fork in the path where I would head to my room down one, and I presumed his room was down the other.

My eyes roamed over the street lamps that circled us as I muttered; "Here we stand..." I smiled weakly at the irony as I looked him in the eyes, they twinkled with that humor too, and we chuckled together. The sound from me was light and tinkling, Paul's sounded foreign and unusual. Even he seemed a little surprised by it, as he coughed afterward.

"Well... Thanks for walking me back." I held a hand out as an offering; a test to see if I'd gotten anywhere. He eyed it curiously, and then looked back to my face.

For a moment I believed he was going to brush me off with a snide remark, I honestly believed that I had dreamt our conversation and that he was staring at me incredulously, wondering how on earth I had the audacity to even presume he'd escorted me anywhere. It wasn't until the warmth of his rough, worn-from-travelling skin came into contact with mine, his fingers brushing the bangle on my wrist. The heat from his hand rushed straight to my face, and I must have looked like Pikachu, because he smirked even wider.

"Thanks for keeping me company." He nodded, bemused by my blush. He let go of me, leaving a burning trail where his fingers hand lingered along my hand as he pulled away. It was like a pull neither of us were really willing to break, and I couldn't stop myself from staring at him, perhaps the shock of this new side of Paul had frozen me to the spot as I watched him in wonder.

"You're welcome." I blurted thoughtlessly. The words kept spewing from my mouth as my mind frantically tried to cover up the fact that I couldn't stop staring. "Perhaps we can do it again some time?"

He blinked at me, then turned away. He paused before walking, and I could hear his one word loud and clear. "Perhaps."

Once he had gone, a palm slapped at my forehead. How stupid was I?

It could have been worse though, and I revelled in that fact as I wandered back to the room I was sharing with Ash and Brock.

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><p><strong>Whoaaa. Besanii Chan is starting a full fanfiction!<br>What is this witch-craft? **

**Well apparently, OneRepublic like to spark creativity in me. I created an AMV and my heart said; "This needs to go into words." So I obliged with my gut instinct and I think this is going to be a big'un. **

**The chapters are probably not going to be in first person, and will probably be more present-past tense rather than this way. **

**Reviews are amazing in my eyes, because I feel a sense of accomplishment, and it gives me more of an incentive to continue, so please please please let me know what you think! Even if it's a few words. Thank you!**


	2. Black and White

**Chapter One  
><strong>_Black and White_

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><p>"You'd better hurry, or you'll miss the ferry." She said, shooing them away playfully. Her calm exterior was an tremendous amount of acting. On the inside, she was on the verge of an emotional break down. She didn't want them to leave with her crying uncontrolably as their last memory of her. So she shoved her shoulders back, gulped down the lump in her throat, bit down hard on the inside of her cheek and smiled, because that's how they should remember her.<p>

Ash nodded slowly, his eyes shimmering with tears too. He was excited to go home, but sad that this was yet another goodbye. He'd bonded with Dawn much more so than his previous female companions because she was so similar to him. So he knew she was feeling pain much the same as he was. It was like losing a sister, despite being an only child.

"Take care Dawn." Brock patted her shoulder, and she smiled to him. She suddenly gasped and shoved a bag she'd been carrying into the older companion's hand. He chuckled and muttered his thanks, he'd got many presents to take back for his large family.

The three smiled for another moment, and Brock began to hoist the collection of bags onto the ferry. Ash remained behind for a second longer as he waited for Pikachu to give his last farewells to Piplup.

"Good luck." Dawn said quietly, holding her hand out in an offering.

Ash smiled weakly, and clapped his hand to hers without hesitation, but they didn't leave each others touch. Instead, his fingers twisted and folded inbetween hers, gripping onto her palm tightly as he shook in emotional distress. He was clutching her knuckles a little too tightly to allow her to hold him back, but her fingers curled over to his hand all the same.

He was having a hard time saying anything at all, so he pulled her in to him, and placed his free hand around her shoulders. Her arms folded in the limited space between them, pressing into their contours as they hugged.

"I'll miss ya." He muttered, his voice wobbly from strain.

"I'll mi..iss you too." She hiccuped back the lump in her throat mid-sentence. Ash was very rarely like this, the only time she'd seen him in this state was when they thought Darkrai had sacrificed himself to save them.

Footsteps behind them stirred them from the embrace, and she peeked up from wet eyelashes to see that Brock had tears streaming down his face. She couldn't even see Ash's face as he hid behind his cap.

"Go! Or you won't be going home at all!" She forced a chuckle as she wrapped her arms around Brock and hugged him quickly, then pushed him toward the stairs. Ash nodded and began climbing them first, Pikachu hopping up after him hurriedly. Brock let Dawn go and placed both hands on her shoulders; "Now you look after yourself, alright? If you need anything, you've only got to call."

"I know Brock, thank you." She pushed him again; "Go."

"Bye..." He muttered as he turned to look at the steps. Dawn didn't have the strength to repeat that word.

_Just a little while longer. Don't cry yet. Don't cry yet. _She told herself, and the chanting distracted her right until the ferry pulled away. She squeezed her eyes tight to lock away the tears. They don't need to see her cry. She was strong, they could leave her alone and she would be fine.

Alone.

"Dawn!"

She looked up to see Ash had somehow pulled himself together and was hanging over the railing as he bellowed across the distance.

"No... Need... To... Worry!"

It made her laugh, and she waved as they got further into the distance.

Her mother's usual reply was apt for the moment. _That's when I worry the most..._

"What do I do now?" She whispered, staring at the horizon as the black dot faded away as the sun set on the day and their journey.

She stood there for a long while, staring into the distance as if they were going to fly back and tell her what to do with her life now. She was there for so long that the people that had joined her to say their farewells to the people on the ferry had left a while ago to get out of the rain that had started.

She was alone in every sense of the word. Even Piplup had retreated to his pokeball due to emotional exhaustion.

Quietly, she slumped to her knees in the place where she stood. The waves rushing and crashing around her and the pitter-patter of gradually heavier rain drowned out the sound of her tiny sobs. She hid her face in her hands and imagined she was surrounded by friends, all patting her back or convincing her things would be okay.

She thought she was imagining things when another voice joined in. Only it wasn't an assurance, it was an order.

"Get up."

A hand touched her cooled skin, but it wasn't a gentle pat, is was a firm grip around her arm as she was hoisted up to stand.

This wasn't her imagination. She removed her hands that were blinding her to see the one person she hadn't imagined had come to surround her with love.

Yet here he stood.

"Paul..."

At least, that's what he thought she'd said. She was slurring through her sobs far too much to sound cohearant words. She began wiping her face furiously, embarrassed to have been caught in such a state.

"Hello." He said back, much more clearly than her greeting. He glanced out to the distance, and then back at her. He'd noted how cold she was. "How long have you been here?"

She pursed her lips and hiccuped. How long had it been? She had no answer, so she shrugged.

"Come on, my ferry isn't for another couple of hours." He gestured to where he had been heading for, and ushered her toward the cafe.

"I didn't bring my purse..." Her home was just around the corner, she hadn't expected to stop by a coffee shop.

"Don't worry about it." He muttered, pushing the door open for her and following her in. A woman busied herself behind the counter whilst another was cleaning the tables. There weren't any customers in there, so they paused by the door. "Are you closed?" Paul asked.

The woman behind the counter smiled; "Not for another hour, dear. Take a seat."

They nodded and headed for the table by a radiator, so she could warm up. They say opposite each other, and the woman who had been cleaning stood at the end of the table. "What can I get you?"

Paul looked to Dawn, who blinked and shrugged. She wasn't paying, why should she choose? He rolled his eyes and looked back to the waitress; "A pot of tea please."

The woman scrawled it down and looked up to see if he wanted anything else. He glanced to the black boards that hung high above the counter, and nodded toward the one; "Do you have any of those cookies left?"

"Of course, I'll bring some out for you right away." The woman said as she scribbled and then scurried away.

Dawn stayed quiet, staring into the space above Paul's head as her mind went numb from thought. Her body was in a similar state, as it was only just realising how cold she really was.

Paul didn't know what to say. He was no good with these sort of things. With comforting, with advice, with _girls. _He'd spent his journey alone, with only his pokemon or Reggie to talk to. Neither of which were female humans. They were never easy to understand, never black and white. This was ridiculously awkward for him, yet he couldn't seem to find anything to say to ease the tension. So instead he stayed silent and let her think things through herself.

She seemed level-headed enough to be able to do that. He hoped.

"Here we go." The woman placed a tray between them and smiled as Dawn sighed in anticipation. The cookies weren't what Paul had ordered, as he'd just assumed they would be biscuits. Instead, they had brought out warm cookie-dough with steaming chocolate sauce dripping all over it. The woman winked as Paul looked to her for answers. "On the house."

"Wow, thank you." Dawn smiled, and it looked out of place on her red, puffy face.

The waitress smiled and nodded; "You're welcome honey. Try to cheer up." She wiped a finger across one of Dawn's tear tracks and then placed her palm on her cheek. "I'm sure he won't be gone long."

Paul's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but Dawn simply nodded back to her. "I'll try."

Had she not heard the same implications that he had? This woman had assumed she was crying because _he_ was leaving. Yes, he was leaving, but it didn't cause this emotional wreck sat across from him. No, he was just picking up the pieces Ash had carelessly left.

"Eat up while it's still warm." She pointed to the plates and the steaming tea pot. Neither of them were stupid enough to disobey, and began devouring the mouth-watering treat.

They sat in companionable silence, the only noise being Dawn's contented moan as the sweet flavours caressed her tongue. Paul smirked every time she did so, utterly bemused by how much she was enjoying such a simple food.

He was aware that the two workers were watching them, giving each other looks as they tried to be inconspicuous, cleaning the tables and counter as they peeked at them in their peripherals. What were they expecting? Some cliche romance that ends up in heartbreak because he's leaving to go to the war?

He snorted at himself, earning a look from Dawn, who quickly averted her gaze to avoid being rude.

"So you have a plan now?" She muttered, placing her spoon into the empty bowl and began pouring tea for the both of them.

He nodded; "Kanto. I want to challenge the Battle Frontier."

She was not surprised by this revelation, she'd known for a while that Paul had a burning desire to defeat Brandon. She nodded back at him and filled the silence with conversation about sugar and milk for the tea.

"What about you?" He asked, purely out of politeness. Though he wished he hadn't asked it at all, because she welled up again. Exasperated, he slumped back into his chair; "There's no need to cry about it."

"I'm not crying." She said stubbornly, but her fierce glare was dulled by the watery sheen in her eyes.

He rose an eyebrow, but chose not to gloat that she was proving his point. "There's nothing to worry about, you'll think of something to do."

"You think?" She stirred her drink absent-mindedly.

He nodded, but she wasn't looking.

"So why have you managed to figure something out faster than me?" She asked childishly, her mouth turning downward.

He sighed, taking a sip of his tea and then speaking as he carefully placed the cup back onto the saucer; "Because I'm just that good."

Ahh, he'd hit the jackpot. He'd made her smile. She knew he wasn't being completely serious, and chuckled at his expense. He didn't mind, (well, he did a little, but he chose to ignore that) and chuckled too. Slightly relieved that he'd successfully eased the tension, he felt victorious. He had the key to making girls laugh.

"You'll be fine." He told her, in all seriousness.

She smiled at him, not humourously, but gratefully. It was another one of those moments where his gaze was locked in hers. He'd never experienced it with anyone else, and yet for some reason, it kept happening between them. He found himself smiling too, and had to force himself to watch as he picked up his tea again.

To distract herself, she started a new conversation. "This is nice, I'm glad we're talking again."

"Me too." He blurted far sooner than he'd thought about it. They were both shocked by his words, and he coughed to cover up.

She made no comment, but her eyes spoke louder than words, she looked pleased by this accidental revelation, and there was no way he could take it back now.

"I should get home. Mom will be worried about me." She muttered, wiping her mouth with a napkin and began gathering herself for the second goodbye of the day.

Paul nodded; "I need to get some supplies before the ferry too."

She didn't make any acknowledgement of his words, and instead turned to the women who had retreated to behind the counter. "Thank you for the cookie dough."

"You're welcome pet, come back soon!" The one replied, and the other one was smiling and waving.

They left silently, and stopped a few metres from the dock.

"Well then..." He muttered.

"Can we not say goodbye?" She asked, staring at him in the eye as she pleaded. "I don't think I could handle it again today."

He frowned and pursed his lips. Surely this one wouldn't be as hard as saying her farewells to her two closest friends? Still, it was a goodbye nonetheless. He nodded in agreement. "Perhaps you're right."

"Besides, I'm certain we'll meet again!"

They both knew the odds of them meeting again were minimal, he was going to a different region. Still, he knew she was lying to comfort herself, so he continued her facade. "No doubt."

She nodded, grateful for his kindness. It was more than she expected from him, so she smiled and placed her hand on his arm. She could feel him stiffen under her touch, but she squeezed him comfortingly. "Thank you."

He gulped. "You're welcome."

She took a step back and put her hand up as a wave, but her fingers quickly curled round in hesitation, and she turned her back on him. She had to leave some time, and the longer she waited, the hard it would have been.

He watched her go.

_You're ditching her like Ash did. _He told himself. _You're better than him. _

He cringed at his thoughts, but they wouldn't leave him alone, even as he showed the ticket to the sailor. He stopped halfway up the stairs, (much to the annoyance of the queue behind him) he couldn't bring himself to leave her in the state she was in. Ash may not have cared, and Paul had a long way to go before he truly cared for Dawn, but he couldn't let her feel lonely when he knew all to well what it was like.

"I need to get off." He muttered, turning around to face the annoyed people behind him. "I need to get off." He repeated louder.

There were several protests, but he shoved his way through the crowd and began to run in the direction she had left.

_You don't even know where she lives._ He argued with himself, but he wasn't one to reconsider his actions. He would find her. He was too stubborn to give up.

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><p><strong>Weeeeellll I had a rush of reviews, which I am sooooo happy about (thank you thank you thank you) so I woke up this morning and began writing again. <strong>

**Before anyone says Paul is way OC, I am inclined to agree and disagree. For one, he softened by the end of his journey in the anime, so I don't think this is too OC. He did speak kindly to Dawn, and wasn't as harsh to Ash in their farewell. But yes, I don't think this would happen in the anime, but hey, without a little OCing, we wouldn't have Ikarishipping. It would blates be Penguinshipping and I don't have much time for that. **

**Stop ranting Besanii, nobody cares. **

***stops.***

**Reviews please? I may even try to knock out another chapter tomorrow if I get another rush! 8D**


	3. All Along

**Chapter Two -****  
><strong>_All along_

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><p>The door clicked open, followed by a rush of cold wind and a few spots of rain. The woman looked up from her seat and smiled.<p>

"Hello honey."

Dawn smiled weakly back. "Hey Mom."

It was a stupid question, but it was one the mother had to ask. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright."

Johanna was surprised Dawn could say this farely easily. She had expected an emotional wreck, but she had been gone a while...

"Come here." She said calmly, opening her arms wide and welcoming for Dawn to curl into. The daughter did so without much resistence. "It's okay to feel sad," Johanna muttered, "you've been through so much with them."

"I feel... Lost." Dawn agreed, snuggling into her mother's shoulder. Glameow even came and sat on her lap for comfort. She stroked the pokemon's head gently.

"I know, it's hard. You'll be okay though." Johanna insisted.

"I think I just want to go to bed." The young girl sighed, hugging her mother tighter for a second then standing up.

"Do you want me to call Kenny? Maybe he can cheer you up?"

"No!" Dawn said a little too quickly. Johanna's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No, I just want to go to sleep. Thanks though."

She wasn't convinced, but Johanna nodded. "Night then sweetie."

Dawn was close to the top of the stairs when the doorbell sounded. "I'll get it!" She called, her mom had already gone into the kitchen, so she ran down and answered it herself.

She gasped as the door swung open. "Paul?" Her voice raised in pitch, and as usual, he recoiled away from her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"I... missed my ferry." He lied. "Is there somewhere I can stay?"

"Uhh... Sure. Mom!" She cried over her shoulder, and Johanna hurried into the room.

"What, what?" She said, panicked.

Dawn ushered Paul in from the cold and closed the door behind him; "Is Paul okay to stay the night? He missed his ferry." Her voice sounded skeptical, but she didn't question it.

"Of course, come in. You're soaking! I'll fetch you some hot chocolate and a towel." Johanna beckoned him, and hurried into the kitchen. Paul looked over his shoulder to Dawn, who smiled.

"How did you miss your ferry?" She chuckled, pushing him by the shoulder toward the kitchen.

"I err... Got the times wrong. It left while we were in that cafe." He lied once again, if he ran back, he could probably catch the ferry still. That wasn't going to happen though, he had a reason for coming here and the weather was a reason to not leave.

"Well now I feel guilty." She muttered, following him into the kitchen.

Paul paused, this wasn't what he was aiming at when he'd said that, he didn't want her to feel guilty, but grateful. He shrugged, and thanked Johanna as she handed him a mug.

"So how do you know each other?" Johanna asked, her eyes bright with curiousity. Dawn hadn't spoken of a Paul before, and the only explaination Johanna could think of was because she had something to hide. In reality, Dawn just hadn't had all that much to say about Paul.

"We met at the start of my journey. Paul was Ash's rival. He's really good." Dawn smiled to Paul at that last part, his lips twitched upward briefly back at her.

"Oh I remember Ash saying something about you." Johanna nodded and then took a sip from her own mug.

Paul stiffened up. "Oh?"

"Nothing bad, of course." Dawn laughed nervously, then went and sat down at the breakfast bar, drinking her own hot chocolate for something to do.

They all followed her suit, and drank quietly a few moments. Johanna, of course, was far too curious to stay silent for long. "So, where are you headed on a ferry?"

"Oh," Paul coughed; "Kanto."

Johanna smiled and nodded; "It's beautiful there, I hear. A lot sunnier than Sinnoh."

"I'm sure that's not what he's going there for though, Mom." Dawn chuckled, daring a glance to Paul, who was watching her with humour sparkling in his eye.

"You never know, I might look better with a sun tan." He looked back down at his mug as he said it, and he earned a giggle from Dawn.

She continued to cackle as she replied; "Well nobody needs a tan more than me. I'm as pale as a Kirlia!"

"Well, they have contests in Kanto." Johanna suggested.

"Don't be silly Mom. I'm not ready to leave Sinnoh yet." Dawn brushed off the comment, and yet the idea was oddly appealing to her. She glanced to Paul, who was staring out of the window, scanning the back garden with little interest. Why did travelling with Paul sound like such a good idea?

_It's probably because you can't think of anything else to do. _She lied to herself.

"Dawn, you should show Paul where he's sleeping, and where the bathroom is so he can have a shower." Johanna ordered lightly, picking up the mugs and moving to wash them up.

Dawn nodded; "Okay."

Paul took his cue to stand up, and nodded to Johanna. "Thanks for letting me stay at such short notice."

"Don't mention it, you're welcome to stay as long as you need." The woman smiled genuinely. He nodded again and headed out of the room. Dawn was already half way up the stairs, and was waiting for him to join her.

She walked up to the top of the stairs, and then blocked his path. "Why are you really here?"

"What do you mean?" He feigned innocence in his monotonous way.

"You're not the type to miss an important time." She rose an eyebrow.

"No, but I saw a reason to stay." He told her, shrugging past her and pointing to a door; "Is this the bathroom?"

She nodded stiffly, frozen in shock. "So you missed it for me?"

He rolled his eyes; "I thought we'd already covered this."

She tried to speak, but nothing came out. He waited a moment, but gave up and pointed to the door again; "I'm cold. Do you mind?"

She blinked back to normal, and nodded as she handed him a fresh towel. He tried to tug it away, but she held it to catch his eye. He looked up to see her smiling. "Thanks Paul, you're not so bad after all."

"Don't tell everyone, you'll ruin my reputation." He smirked, yanking the towel from her hand. She grinned as he closed the door on her and locked the door.

She snorted and headed back down the stairs while she waited for him to finish.

Johanna waited to pounce, but Dawn was expecting it anyway.

"He's just a friend, Mom." She said before the eager mother could even ask. "We only really talked to each other for the first time at the Sinnoh league."

"Oh." Johanna could deny the genuine words of her daughter, she wouldn't lie about it. "Well that's nice. Why didn't you speak before? You're usually quite friendly to new people."

Dawn stiffened. Did she really want her mother to know about the past that is Paul and Dawn? It was a... Rocky relationship to say the least.

"We just didn't really have much in common. He talked to Ash more than me." Dawn shrugged, turning her back on her mother so she could see that she was cringing through her little white lies. In all fairness, she wasn't lying really. She just wasn't answering the question properly. After all, they really didn't have that much in common. She was a coordinator; she would be the first to admit she was materialistic and vain. She loved her pokemon dearly and made sure they were constantly well groomed and in top health. Paul was pretty much the opposite. A trainer striven for power and strength, he didn't give a damn what the pokemon looked like as long as it hit hard, and she'd seen him a few times not even both to let his pokemon rest before moving onto the next battle.

_So why are we getting along so well? _She wondered as she wandered into the living room and flicked the television on. She could hear the shower switching on, and the light rush of water hitting the drain. He would still be a while, so she continued pondering on her thoughts.

_Maybe it's just the lonliness talking. _Yes. Maybe she was forcing herself to get along with him because she was alone, and craved company. _That still doesn't explain why Paul is being so nice... _

Why was he being so nice? Had she said something?

_Maybe his lonliness is talking too. _Her mind suggested. _Oh..._ She sighed in her head. _How sad... I guess we do have things in common._

Her eyes wandered over to the television, new coordinators were already coming onto the scene. She was no longer a novice. She was a defined coordinator with her own fans. Sure, she wasn't a top coordinator yet, but she would get there.

_Kanto is getting more and more appealing by the second._ She smiled to herself, her imagination soaring. She could start a fresh, with no Zoey to stand in her way. But what if Paul though she was following him? What if he didn't want her to?

_Johto? _She shuddered at the thought. May was there, halfway through her journey. She had told her about her rivals. They sounded tougher than Zoey, she wasn't ready for that quite yet.

_Hoenn? _Ash seemed to have enjoyed himself there, and there were some great pokemon there too.

"Mom?" She called as the thought rushed through her mind. Johanna peeped around the corner.

"Yes dear?"

"Did you ever travel Hoenn?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, then I came back and re-tried Sinnoh." She explained.

Dawn nodded, maybe this was a good idea. She'd have to sleep on it. "Okay, thanks Mom."

Johanna nodded and disappeared again, leaving Dawn alone to her thoughts once more.

_All this thinking is making me hungry. _She sighed. _I could murder some more cookie dough._

Before she could drool over the carpet, the sound of rushing water stopped from abover her. She stood up and lingered at the stairs. "Night Mom!"

"Night sweetie."

She leapt up the stairs with practiced ease, and smiled triumphantly at her timing as she reached the top just as Paul stepped out of the bathroom.

Topless.

_Don't. Look. Down. _Dawn warned herself as she stared intensely at his face and forced a smile. It wasn't helping matters. _Even his hair looks cute wet. _She eyed his darkened-by-dampness purple locks with envy. He smirked.

_He knows you're staring. Distract him! _She squealed in her head. "This is your room." She wheeled around and opened a door, revealing the room Ash had stayed in just the night before. Paul nodded and wandered in there, rubbing the towel through his hair to dry it more.

"Thanks."

_Why are you getting so flustered? You've seen Ash and Brock topless many times._ She asked herself, as she fidgeted in the doorway. Maybe it was because this was _Paul. _She'd never even dreamt he would be standing in her house, let alone having a sleepover with him. Topless.

_STOP LOOKING DOWN DAWN._

"Night then."

She blinked back into reality and turned crimson. She'd been caught staring again. She nodded quickly. "See you in the morning!"

Even as she disappeared into her own room, she could hear him chuckle.

* * *

><p><strong>So I said a day, and I did intend for it, but I got inspired by a song and made an AMV instead. Sorreh!<strong>  
><strong>Thank you for my reviews. I really am getting a kick out of recieving them. I'm checking my emails like ever hour! Hahaaa. Don't hesitate to tell me anything you're not liking please! Am I putting in too much thought dialogue? Did you prefer my first person writing? Am I not looking into Paul's perspective enough?<strong>

**Ttfn! :3**


	4. Patience

**Chapter Three  
><strong>_Patience_

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, delayed?" She stared accusingly at the man across the counter.<p>

"I mean, there is a storm that is intercepting the path to Kanto so we cannot send a ferry across for a few more days. The storm doesn't seem natural, experts are to believe a legendary pokemon from Unova is causing it." The man explained nervously, slightly intimidated by Dawn's glare.

His explaination seemed to have calmed her though, and she nodded. "I suppose he'll have to wait then."

"It is not for you?" The man asked.

"No, my friend missed the ferry last night for me, and I wanted to pay him back." She sighed.

The man's face lit up; "I can help you there then." He began rummaging through a drawer to his side. "Can I interest you in a gift voucher?"

She grinned and nodded.

* * *

><p>Dawn wandered through her front door and could smell food wafting from in the kitchen. She grinned and hurried into the room to see Johanna sat at the breakfast bar while Paul slaved over the food. She smiled over to her mother, who's eyes were sparkling in content as she watched the guest voluntarily cook for her.<p>

"I'm back." She chimed cutely, skipping to his side and peering over his shoulder. "Wow, pancakes?"

He grunted as a yes, and just to prove a point, flicked the pancake with practiced ease. She clapped with delight.

"Dawn, sit down and get out of Paul's way." Johanna chuckled, pulling a chair out for her daughter. "Where have you been, anyway?"

Dawn grinned; "It's a secret."

Paul glanced over his shoulder, watching her curiously as she sat down.

_What is she up to? _His mind ran frantically as it sought an answer. _That mischievous face is so annoying. _He mused. _Oh crap._

The sound of laughter came from behind him. He'd absent-mindedly dished up the first pancake and missed the plate entirely. Dawn and Johanna had simply watched and giggled at his stupidity.

He cringed inwardly and quickly slapped the pancake onto the plate and drizzled it with lemon and sugar.

"I'll-err... Have this one." He insisted, already cracking out the next ingredients. _That'll teach you. _He scalded.

* * *

><p>"I have to train." Paul stated to Dawn, who had been clearing the plates away. She glanced over her shoulder and took a few seconds to reply.<p>

_Heavens, he looked gorgeous when he's serious like that. _She mused, though she quickly blamed her thoughts on the memory of him topless. _You never thought that in your journey. _She snapped at herself.

Quickly, to distract him from her blush, she flicked her hair and turned back to the dishes. "Well, how much space do you need?"

"Not a lot." He shrugged; "Though I probably shouldn't be near anybody's home." He chuckled at some distant memory.

She nodded, finishing up the cleaning and washing her hands quickly. "I know where to go, it's a ten minute walk there, though." She peeked over her shoulder to see his reaction. He nodded.

"Okay!" She smiled. "Just going to grab my coat!" She ran up the stairs. "I'm showing Paul around town!" She shouted to her mother as she did so.

"Okay, have fun!" Johanna called back, hurrying close to Paul. He started and stumbled back from her, which she apologised for quickly. "Paul, I've had a party planned for Dawn's success in the Grand Festival for a while now, and it's a surprise. Would you like to come?"

He rose an eyebrow; "Certainly, thank you."

"Well, of course, she has no idea, so do you think you could get her to the town hall tomorrow night without her realising our plan?" Johanna asked hopefully. She hushed him before he could answer though, as Dawn came bounding down the stairs.

"I'm sure I'll think of something." Paul muttered, nodding to Johanna as she smiled gratefully.

"Okay, come on!" Dawn said quickly, not noticing Paul and Johanna were closer than usually necessary. She ran out the door, and Paul nodded to the mother and followed Dawn out.

They wandered through the town in silence, and only when they reached the outskirts did he speak up. "Where are you taking me?"

She smirked; "Why, worried?"

"No, just inquiring." He rolled his eyes at her and fell into step behind her as they snuck through some compactly growing trees.

"We're nearly there." She grunted, hopping over a fallen log and groaning when she spashed into a puddle on the other side. Paul chuckled, jumping up onto the log, and then leaping over the puddle. She grumbled something about him being a smartarse and continuing on.

"Here we are." She spread her arms wide as they reached a lake which Paul already knew to be Lake Verity. It was not dissimilar to Lake Acuity, only it was surrounded by trees with orange and browning leaves.

"Beautiful isn't it? At this time of year..." She sighed, sitting beside a rock as she had done so on her first day of her journey. She stared at Paul expectantly.

He rose an eyebrow; "Aren't you going to train?"

"For what? My pokemon are resting." Dawn shrugged.

He nodded, releasing his newest pokemon, a Golduck. It leapt into the water and began practicing it's high-speed swimming. He watched the pokemon rush around the island in the middle of the lake. He tried to concentrate, but he could feel eyes watching him just as intensly as he was watching his pokemon.

"Do you have to watch me?" He muttered quietly, but she still heard him.

"I can leave if you want." She said loudly to prove a point. He seemed startled by her sensitive hearing. He glanced over his shoulder to see she was yanking up her bag and stood in a defensive stance as if ready to storm off.

He shrugged; "I guess you can stay."

"Gee, thanks." She spat sarcastically, slumping back down again. She released Piplup, who cuddled up to her and they were sufficiently distracted.

He trained for a while, having both Torterra and Electivire use their super effective attacks on the water type, teaching it to withstand the attacks. It would hold off grass type attacks pretty well with its ice type moves, but electricity-defence was not going well.

"Try it again." He ordered Electivire.

Dawn winced, now acutely aware due to the loud grunts of suppressed urges to cry from the Golduck. She watched as it took on yet another pulse of powerful electricity. It was horrible to watch, she'd never seen this sort of training before, but she could see now why Paul's pokemon had such incredible stamina.

When Electivire released it's charge with a pant, Golduck staggered and wavered on the spot, desperately wanting to cool it's spasming body in the lake.

"Again."

"What!" Dawn leapt up in surprise. "Really?"

Paul turned to face her with a deadpan expression. "What?"

"Golduck looks exhausted!" She cried, sympathy rushing through her. "Shouldn't you give it a rest?"

Electivire stared with wide eyes at Dawn, shaking it's head in disbelief. Nobody ever questioned it's master. This girl had a nerve.

"How will I learn it's limits if I don't push them?" Paul questioned, arching a brow. "A trainer wouldn't think twice if it meant beating me."

"But you're just training." She blinked.

"For the toughest battle I've ever faced." He added with deep seriousness. She stared at him with wide eyes as he explained. "Not one of my team can be lacking in strength and defence. One weak link and the rest have to take the slack. If they take the slack, they're more likely to lose. I'm not going to lose again." He stated fiercely.

She blinked once, exhaling in one quick rush due to the fact that she'd been holding it through his speech. He hadn't ever spoken this much in her presense. "Wow."

He didn't respond, and instead turned to face Electivire. "Again."

She bit her tongue, resisting the urge to try and stop him again. She looked at Piplup, who was equally as perplexed by this different style in training.

"Brandon and Reggie's battle changed everything for you, didn't it?" She muttered ever so quietly, but Paul had been listening and watching her inconspicuously, so he heard every word.

"Yes." He said simply.

She jumped, looking back up at him. "Why?"

He sighed, reluctant to talk. She saw this and nodded, wandering back to the rock and sitting against it.

Paul watched, tilting his head in confusion at how easily she'd given in, not bothering to pester him for his life story.

"When I first started out," Dawn said, staring at nothing in particular. She barely even noticed Piplup land on her lap. "I battled my Mom's rival; Lila. She was amazing, and I managed to beat her when my Mom never did. I still feel proud of it now, even though I was extremely lucky with Ambipom pulling off some new moves. I'll never forget that day. It showed me that I can beat anyone."

Paul frowned, womdering why she was telling her this. She blinked to reality and looked at him; "I never saw my Mom be beaten, but it still changed me. Maybe beating Brandon will change you too?"

"I doubt it." Paul scoffed. "I'm not one for change."

"I disagree." Dawn smiled weakly. "You've changed so much since the first day we met."

He paused, watching as her memories wandered again. _I guess I have changed, or she just got more bareable. _He looked at her, irritated by the way she was chewing her lip. _Yeah, I'm just more patient._

"Paul?"

He looked up and met her gaze.

"Why have you stayed?"

He sighed; "I told you, I missed my ferry."

She smirked a little. "Right."

_She doesn't believe you. _He thought. _Why would she, you're crap at lying. _

They looked at one another as he circled her and sat down. Not just anywhere, but right next to her. He was voluntarily at her side. She held her breath in surprise.

He watched her as she thought about how close he was. Had he done something wrong? She wasn't breathing...

"Do you feel sorry for me?" She asked meekly.

He didn't reply immediately, so she met his gaze. He couldn't hold her stare, so looked out to the lake. "I know what it feels like to be alone."

She frowned, he'd said this before. It was clearly playing on his mind. She watched him, but he wasn't one to wear his emotions so openly on his face. If she were to get answers, she would first have to ask questions.

"You travelled with Reggie, didn't you?"

"At first." He sounded wary of her questions. He didn't like the sound of where she was going.

She nodded, waiting for him to continue. It took him a while before he did.

"We travelled Kanto together, for a little while." He told her, and she did the rest of the putting together.

"Until Brandon." She guessed. He nodded in confirmations, so she continued. "What happened? Reggie didn't say all that much."

He sighed, a slight scowl coming across his face, causing her to flinch away. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh." She muttered, respecting his privacy.

Silence fell over them for a little while, so thought took over. She watched as Piplup and Golduck swam together, and Torterra and Electivire were talking. Other than the odd splash and constant muttering, the place was quiet and peaceful. She lay back onto the rock and sighed. Friends were around her, so why did she feel so lonely?

"I'm not proud of my actions." Paul suddenly blurted, clearly his trail of thought was still on Reggie and it had become overwhelming. Dawn paused her thoughts and listened to every word, knowing he struggled to explain these sort of things.

"I was angry, with Reggie. He gave up after one loss when he'd taught me a loss isn't the end of the world. I got so angry. I ran away. We didn't speak for a year, until Reggie found me at the Johto league because I'd been on the television." He explained quickly, barely pausing to take a breath.

"That must have been hard." She assumed, not able to imagine being so far away from home without a family member to confide in, even over the phone.

He merely replied with a nod.

"So... If you don't like being alone, why did you continue to travel alone?" She asked, honestly intruiged. This revelation was distracting her from her own problems, and putting them in perspective brilliantly. She had been left alone, but they would still speak to her, they would still visit. Paul had been too stubborn to speak to Reggie, and therefore was very much alone.

He must have realised his mistake in the end, for they spoke now, she realised.

"I don't know..." He shrugged. When she didn't reply, he looked to see her expression. She was watching him in wonder and curiosity. He felt a little paranoid under her stare.

"Why are you going to travel alone again then?"

"I-" He paused, looking away from her. The pokemon had ceased what they were doing and were looking in their direction. "It's always been that way."

She felt a gut-wrenching sense of sadness for him, she'd never thought she'd feel such strong emotions for the boy sat beside her, other than the anger she'd felt on their first meeting. It was bizarre, foreign and unwanted, but she couldn't help it.

"I suppose I should get used to it too, huh?" She muttered.

He sighed resting his head back onto the rock and staring at the sky. "Yeah, you'll be fine."

She hummed in agreement, looking to him, and then up to the sky too. She didn't realise how tired she was. She could close her eyes while Paul continued training...

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, Besanii's been a while. Sorry about that. Busy life means little time, little time means less chance of breaking my writer's block. Finally forced this out though. Wasn't exactly how I want it, but the character development I was aiming for is there so all is well. <strong>

**Hope I haven't put you off by my delay! **


	5. Make It

**Chapter Four  
><strong>_Make it._

* * *

><p>"Ahhhh!" She squealed at the top of her voice. "It's so beautiful, Mom!"<p>

"I'm glad you like it sweetie, go try it on." Johanna grinned, winking to Paul as Dawn turned her back. As soon as she'd disappeared up the stairs, Johanna threw a bag in Paul's direction, and he caught it instinctively. "Quick," she whispered; "go get changed."

He looked down at the bag to see Johanna had been busy buying him clothes. She'd known him two days and had brought him clothes. He blinked in disbelief, once at the bag, then once at her.

"Go!" She shoved him toward the downstairs bathroom, shutting the door behind him and leaving him to get dressed, whether he liked her choice of clothing or not.

"Eeeeeeeeek!" Another squeal got louder as she bounded back down the stairs, swirling around the living room in her newest dress. It was baby blue this time, a white frilly underskirt showing where the blue dress was sewn up at the sides. The white collar was not dissimilar to a Sailor's, except for the white frills that hemmed it. The sleeves were short and poofy, and all in all it was very, very girly. Her shoes were new too, little white heeled booties and white socks that frilled outwards at the top. She even had a white fitted jacket to match.

"When am I going to wear this...?" She sighed, looking down at herself. "I don't even have a contest to go to..."

Johanna smiled, "Let's go do your hair."

"What for?" Dawn asked, slightly suspicious.

"No reason, just thought you might like to complete the look." Johanna bluffed, smiling sweetly.

"I do like it when you curl my hair..." Dawn muttered, already heading for the stairs. "Where's Paul?"

"Bathroom." Johanna said quickly, pushing her daughter up the stairs. He needed to devise a plan, and quick.

* * *

><p>"These aren't that bad..." He muttered to himself, pulling the navy shirt over the nicely fitting white t-shirt. His trousers had been replaced with tan ones and were also slim fitting, making him feel slightly uncomfortable having been used to his usual baggy attire. Still, he looked in the mirror and admired the outfit. It was different, he would never have brought it himself, but it still suited him.<p>

So as not to make it obvious that he had changed deliberately, he pulled his navy and purple coat over him and ruffled his hair to look unkempt and messy.

He stepped out of the bathroom, and listened for Dawn's voice. It didn't take long to hear her talking.

"And then, she turned it around by having Togekiss use so many awesome moves!" She spoke with enthusiasm, he could imagine her throwing her hands about to expand on her point further. He began to climb the stairs, following her voice.

"Wow, what an honour, and to think she looks just like you." Johanna replied calmly, chuckling on the end.

"I know, and that's how I got Togekiss. We had a little trouble at first, but I changed my battle style and now we're unstoppable!" Dawn said.

He carefully poked his head around her bedroom door, spying them sat at a dressing room table, looking into the mirror as Johanna finished the final touches to her daughter's hair. That wasn't what caught his attention though, Dawn sat beaming in the mirror, her eyes sparkling as she looked beyond her reflection, memories flooding past her irises like flashes of light.

Paul tried not to be too judgemental on her dress, it was far from his taste in clothes (mainly because of his gender) and was much too frilly to be casual. How on earth was he supposed to convince her to wear that outside without giving her a reason that would be ridiculously suspicious?

"Dawn, I have to go out for a little while, pick up this weeks groceries. Do you need anything?" Johanna asked, winking to Paul's reflection. He mentally face-palmed. He wondered how Dawn hadn't spotted something yet, but then reminded himself on how the two were related and the question was answered.

"No thank you Mom, do you want me to come?" The young girl smiled and looked at her mother's reflection, but Johanna was shaking her head.

"No dear, you should stay with Paul and keep him company."

That was when Dawn spotted him in the doorway, and she beamed the most heart-stoppingly gorgeous smile he'd ever seen. He was surprised at how such a simple expression could have quite the effect on him, having seen her smile many times before, but he couldn't help but notice the fact that his mouth went dry and caused him to painfully gulp just upon seeing her.

Who knew he could be so cliché? He scoffed at himself in denial.

_It's not the first time she's done that to you. _The back of his mind reminded him. He quickly cast that aside and simply threw a weak smile in her direction.

"What do you think?" She stood up and twirled like a ballerina, her new shoes tapping dully on the wooden floor.

"I think your mother is an excellent tailor." He complimented, finding that he could say he liked the dress, but he could appreciate the work that had gone into it.

"Thank you Paul. I shall see you later." Johanna patted his shoulder, giving him the usual reaction of tensing up in nervousness, then left the room.

Dawn waited patiently for him to turn his attention back to her, and he couldn't help but smirk at the fact that Dawn had yet to notice his change of clothing. Apparently she was far too fond at looking at his face to look at the obvious colour change in his trousers.

"I suppose I ought to get changed." She sighed, glancing wistfully at herself in the mirror. "What would you like to do tonight?"

"Well actually," he coughed, getting ready to say something he would never have dreamt he would say; "I was wondering if you wanted to go for dinner? It would be a shame to not use your new dress." Lies. All lies in his mind, in all honesty, he wanted to just tell her the surprise and drag her there then leave to avoid the awkward social party with her friends and family. But no, he had promised her mother, and he owed her for her hospitality.

Dawn was knocked back with surprise. _Is he... asking me on a date? _She inhaled sharply a few times before smiling weakly and nodding. "Sure, where were you thinking?"

_No, he can't be. Paul? Asking me on a date? It sounds so wrong but what else could it be?_

She kept quiet and didn't voice her questions, instead following him down the stairs.

"I don't know, is there anywhere nice in town?" Paul asked, his voice straining for a casual tone.

She scrambled for ideas in her head, her mind was everywhere! He'd really put her on the spot, and she was ridiculously confused. "Well... I...um... There's a little restaurant just across town? The food is nice there..."

"Is it past the town hall?" He asked casually, trying not to make a huge point on the town hall itself.

"Yeah, why? Is that too far? I think there-"

"No I was just wondering, I've only gone as far as the town hall here, so you'll have to show me the way." He said, offering her coat and opening the front door.

_I'm going on a date with Paul! Ash would go mad... _She thought, smiling coyly to the floor. He watched as she passed him, and locked the door.

_You can't call it a date. _She scolded herself. _You don't know it's that. Maybe he's just trying to repay you for letting him stay.  
><em>She nodded slightly. _Yes, that's what it is. Don't get ahead of yourself, it will only end in tears if you do._

"What sort of food does this restaurant serve?" He asked, despite knowing full well they wouldn't reach the restaurant anyway. It was just to keep her mind busy so she didn't guess his plan.

"Well... It's not all that fancy, but the have a variety of stuff. Their pizzas are really nice..." She continued on, and he pretended to listen even as he reached the town hall. His eyes glanced about the place, and there he spotted his Golduck, hiding by a building near the Hall. Its tiny red gem flashed red at the perfect time, releasing a rush of rain from the skies, causing Dawn to squeal and hold her hands to her head.

"Oh no! My hair!"

He rolled his eyes, grabbing a wrist and using her complaining as an excuse to get her to the conveniently placed shelter that was the town hall.

"That's some freak weather!" Dawn whined, frowning out the door, but then she turned back to look inside and frowned even harder. "Say, why is this place open?"

Curiosity got the better of her, and she tiptoed through the door, feeling for the light switch and... Click!

"SURPRISE!"

She screamed in shock, jumping a foot in the air, and placing a hand on her heart. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scenery; the town hall she'd been in many times had been decorated with pink banners, streamers, balloons, glitter... Everything was pink. There was a huge banner at the top end of the hall which read; "Welcome Home Dawn."

"Oh my goodness!" She cried, placing her hands over her mouth as she welled up with happiness.

Paul couldn't help but smile as everybody gathered around her, grinning, laughing and chattering to her, congratulating her on her successes. He took a step back, allowing her to have her moment, but he couldn't help but watch her carefully. Particularly as one of her friends enthusiastically threw his arms over her and gripped tightly.

"Welcome back, Dee Dee!" The boy said in a teasing tone.

"Kenny!" She chuckled nervously; "What are you doing here?"

"Well I wasn't going to miss your welcoming party, was I?" He laughed, and they began to chatter as the party picked up.

"Hey Paul!" A hand came down hard onto his shoulder, and he started slightly before turning to look at his fellow Sinnoh League competitor, Barry. He remembered that Barry was from Twinleaf town too, which made sense as to why he was here. "I didn't know you were coming!"

He nodded and spoke stiffly back. "I got a last minute invite from Johanna."

Barry smirked; "So you're in with the 'rents already, huh? I didn't know you and Dawn were... You know... Getting it on."

Paul frowned, fighting the urge to snap at this ignorant boy in front of him. "We're not 'getting it on'."

The blond winked and nudged him; "You're not the kiss and tell kinda guy huh? I didn't think you would be. I admire that."

"Oh Arceus spare me." Paul muttered under his breath, glaring at Barry with as much intensity as he could.

He seemed to notice Paul was boiling over in irritation, and chuckled nervously. "I have to talk to Dawn myself anyway. I'll catch you later." And with that, he disappeared.

"Good grief." Paul spat, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?"

He started again and spun around to see Dawn staring up at him curiously.

"Nothing, I-" He shrugged, unable to come up with an answer.

Dawn smiled and let it pass. "I want to thank you for making this a wonderful surprise. Mom told me you were in on it."

"Oh well I..." Paul looked across the room to see Johanna watching curiously. He tried to forget seeing it and smiled down at Dawn. "You're welcome."

"Nice touch with the rain too." She laughed, pushing him lightly on his arm with her knuckles. He snorted, allowing himself to recoil away from the pressure, then melted back to his casual stance.

_Flirting. Flirting! _His mind screamed in warning. It was not the first time this had happened to him. He knew the signs.

"Yeah, I thought it might work." He chuckled, rubbing his hair absent-mindedly.

"Well, are you going to come and dance?"

More sirens went off in his head, demanding he turned her down. "Nahh, not my style. I'm going to get something to eat."

"Oh..." She sounded disappointed for a second. "Okay!" Then it was gone in a flash as she grinned one of her fantastic grins once again.

_I wish she'd stop doing that. _He groaned in thought.

"I'll see you in a bit." She waved her hand gently and hurried off to mingle with her crowd, leaving him to fend for himself. He watched for a second, then caught himself doing so and searched for the buffet.

_For pity's sake, you're acting like a teenage girl. _He mentally scolded, slapping a few sandwiches onto his plate. His initial reaction was to hate himself, but it didn't stop him from picking out her laughter from all the others that harmonised with her.

_Yeah... You're going soft._

* * *

><p><strong>Finally got inspiration for this chapter! YAY!<br>Don't worry, this isn't going to be the only party chapter. **

**Also, thoughts on Paul's POV? Mushy too soon? Or do you like this soft side to him? **

**And thoughts on Barry's brief appearance? **


	6. To See

**Chapter Five  
><strong>_To see_

* * *

><p>The night had got into full swing, and everybody was merry and excited. The endless chatter shadowed the music playing loudly in the corner, and lights were flashing everywhere from the portable decks.<p>

Dawn was, as she'd said, on the allocated space for dancing. She twirled endlessly, meandering her way through the many people who wished to dance with her.

"You're looking real pretty tonight Dawn!" Kenny yelled into her ear so she could actually hear him. Now that he'd gotten a hold of her, he wasn't letting go for a while.

She went scarlet red, smiling shyly and mouthing her thanks back at him. The two bobbed up and down together, his hands placed very carefully around her waist, whilst hers draped over his shoulders comfortably. Both of them had stepped into dangerous territory for their friendship, and it was terrifying them. The music ended, and Dawn pulled away, much to Kenny's dismay.

"I have to go find Leona! I haven't spoken to her in so long." Dawn excused herself, glancing around the room. Kenny nodded and pointed in their oldest friend's direction, and Dawn trotted off elegantly.

Of course, a certain somebody had been watching the whole time, his fork grinding into the table without him realising.

"Paul?"

He looked up to see a girl he vaguely recognised staring at him with careful composure. He stood up and took a step closer to her out of politeness.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The girl said, arching a brow sarcastically.

"I remember you," he corrected; "but we were never properly introduced."

The girl visibly softened, and offered a hand. "I'm Zoey, been friends with Dawn for quite some time now."

"Paul, I haven't been for all that long."

Zoey chuckled, looking over to her rival. "She said you two started talking at the Sinnoh league."

He stiffened, this was dangerous. He didn't know much about the female world, but what he did know was that if a friend said they knew a little detail, it was highly likely that they knew every other detail too. Zoey didn't seem like that sort of girl, but Dawn most definitely was the sort to share all her thoughts with a friend. Anything he said might go straight back to Dawn within the hour.

_Better play the game then. _He thought wryly, gesturing to his seat and the empty one opposite him. Zoey took it and listened to what Paul had to say. "It's a funny story..."

* * *

><p>"I did not stalk him!" Dawn shrieked, turning away from the toilet mirrors and staring at Zoey in horror. The redhead was curling over with laughter.<p>

"You have to admit, it does sound a little stalker-ish." She said.

Dawn threw her hands around. "Well yeah when you say it like that! That totally wasn't how it happened!"

"I believe you, but I really wouldn't worry about it too much, you must have done something right to have spoken to him civilly." Zoey mused, her only memory of Paul was not a pleasant day, so to what she could gather, Dawn must have had some sort of affect on him.

"It was weird, you know? All of a sudden we're talking. Like a proper conversation! At first I didn't know what to make of it, but now..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

Zoey smiled, but said nothing. Dawn flailed manically. "What? What's that look for?"

The redhead shook her head and gestured for the door. "Come on, people will be looking for you."

She took Dawn's hand and led her out of the toilets, immediately stopped by a blond haired boy. He didn't look too pleased, but the frown was playful nonetheless.

"I'm gonna have to fine you for make me wait, Dawn! You've got ten seconds to pay up! Ten, nine-"

"Alright alright! I am all yours!" She giggled, pushing him toward the dance floor and waving to Zoey.

She took the arm that was offered to her, and made her way back to the dance floor again for yet another partner dance. The music was slow, a gentle beat in the background to sway to, which seemed awkward to be dancing to with Barry. He settled into it quite well though, which was unusual.

"I got you a present!" He smiled, pulling out a tiny card from his pocket.

"You didn't have to get me anything!" She grinned and ripped it open, squealing when she pulled out a new app for her poketch. He'd remembered how much she loved his, and brought her such a meaningful present. "That's so thoughtful of you, Barry! Thank you!" She threw her arms over his shoulders and embraced him tightly, and he was quick to hug her back and chuckle.

"That's not all." He rummaged in his other pocket and pulled out a small present. "This one's not from me." He told her.

She frowned slightly at him as her fingers felt at the wrapping, and she pulled open one of the sides. The box opened to reveal a pair of dazzling earrings, and a letter fell out underneath. Barry picked it up for her, and smiled sympathetically as he handed it over. Confused, Dawn looked down at the letter and instantly recognised the hand writing.

_Hey Dawn!_

_We're really sorry we couldn't be there at your party, but we've known for a while you were having one so we got you these. We hope you like them, and have a really fun night. We miss you already. _

_Make sure you go show all the newbies how a real coordinator works!_

_Love, _

_Ash, Brock, Pikachu and the rest of the gang. x_

She just managed to finish reading the end as the bottom became smudged by a tear drop. They weren't sad tears though, because she was smiling through them, and she looked up to Barry.

"Thank you. This means more to me than you know." She clutched the paper close to her, blinking furiously to see Barry's face.

"You're gonna be alright, Dawn. You got friends here too, you know." He patted her shoulder, smiling at her encouragingly. She smiled too, wiping her eyes gently with the back of her hand.

"I do know, thanks." She muttered, this time hugging him gently.

Over the time she'd spent on her journey, she and Barry had become fast friends, mainly because she was quick to tease and joke with him, whereas Ash was never as witty and sarcastic as she was. He pulled away and looked over her shoulder, and bowed mockingly.

"Madam, I leave you now to make conversation with our fellow friend Kenny. I hope to see you later." He waggled his eyebrows and grinned.

"Of course, send my regards, kind sir." She curtseyed, playing alone and giggling as he walked in a strange way toward Kenny who was fetching himself a drink.

She stood in the middle of the dance floor, and spotted her mother watching her as Kenny's mother chatted at her, not realising Johanna wasn't listening. Dawn smiled convincingly, then turned away before her Mom could get suspicious. Zoey was talking to Candice, who had come too, and Maylene nowhere to be seen for that moment.

"Looking for someone?"

She turned toward the direction of breath down her neck to see Paul looking down at her with a blank but somehow concerned looked down and blinked some more just to be rid of those final stray tears and then smiled back up at him.

"Nobody in particular, but now that you're here..." She locked her arms over his shoulders and around his neck. "I have you trapped, and you shall dance!"

He scowled; "I'm no good at it..."

"Never said you have to be, just-" she cut herself off, taking his hand that was pinned at his side and forcing it to rest on her waist, the other hand followed suit by itself. "There." She nodded in satisfaction.

"We're not moving." He muttered.

"Well that's because you're meant to lead me." She said in a-matter-of-fact kind of way. To start him off, she swayed to one side, and his arms stiffly followed her. They automatically pulled her back to stand centre, but instead she swung gently the other way, their feet lifting a little and stepping around in a circle. It was awkward, but nice, it was their dance.

Once he'd settled a little into things, he could finally talk. "You didn't look too happy with Barry."

"No, I am happy, he gave me a letter from Ash and Brock. It just-" she paused, biting down on her lip as she fought back the vicious, unforgiving lump in her throat.

He nodded in understanding, not needing her to finish the sentence. "You'll never stop missing them." He said honestly; "But it won't hurt so much soon."

She looked him in the eye and saw the truth behind them, he could see that hurt he felt; dim, but ever-present.

"I didn't get you a present." He said, just to cut the tension. It made her giggle.

"Don't be silly." She told him, "you've done enough for me the past few days."

"I'm sure you have this backwards." He protested.

"No." She said quickly, pausing in thought and rotating around once more to the beat. "No... I wouldn't feel as good as I do now if it weren't for you." She sighed, just as she took a half step closer so her feet were between his, one of her hands found one of his, and her head found his shoulder at a comfortable height for resting. He blinked, looking up at the people watching them and having the most violent urge to shove her aside and run away, but he choked that feeling down and continued to sway like he knew what he was doing. Like he knew how he was meddling with this fragile girl's feelings, and how he knew she was doing just the same to him.

She sighed, closing her eyes as she realised how dependant she was. She would never manage alone. She could never travel all by herself without hurting herself, or getting lost, or becoming so depressed she might never coordinate again. How could she expect Paul to be this crutch she desperately needed? He didn't have time time or the patience to point her in the right direction, and she couldn't ask him to stay.

He wasn't going to leave until she was better and ready to go it alone.

And she knew that she couldn't let him wait that long.

* * *

><p><strong>OOOOOOOH.<strong>

**Lol I make myself laugh some time. **

**So thoughts on this revelation? Please review! I know other people are reading this, and I'd really love to hear from you. It takes two seconds to write a comment! ^^**


	7. Knowledge

**Chapter** **Six**  
><em>Knowledge. <em>**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The night had drawn in and the morning was teetering at the edge of dawn, ready to begin a new day. Dawn had thus passed out whilst Johanna drove her and Paul home. Her head pressed gently against the window, her mouth hanging open lightly and her eyelids flickering every time they went under a street lamp.<p>

"You did a great job of getting Dawn to the Town Hall, Paul. I have no idea how you did it!" Johanna smiled, glancing up to her rearview to see him staring blankly out of his window. His mind had been elsewhere, his arm propped up on the arm rest, his curled fingers lightly holding up his chin as he fought his drowsiness.

"Thank you." He muttered, unable to process the words to expand further due to fatigue.

"Out of curiosity, how long do you think you'll be staying?" Johanna asked quietly, her eyes focussed on the road.

Paul bit his lip, did she want him to leave? He glanced to Dawn; "When she is ready."

They were quiet for a little while, and she finally pulled up outside the house.

Johanna smiled over her shoulder at Dawn's sleeping figure. "Will you wake her for me?"

"Of course." He placed a hand onto Dawn's shoulder and gently shook her.

"Dawn, sweetie. Go to bed." The mother cooed, and Dawn reacted just as calmly, her drowsy state keeping her in a light trance as she made her way to the front door and up the stairs without so much as a grumble. Paul watched in bewilderment, having assumed she would be the grumpy-if-woken type.

He slipped out his side of the car and offered a helping hand to carry the gifts from the trunk of the car to the house. Johanna smiled and passed him the lighter packages, but he slyly took a few heavy ones as well so as to help her more.

"I'm not outstaying my welcome, am I?" He asked suddenly, worried that he was becoming a nuisance.

Johanna looked a little flustered and surprised, it took her a few seconds to reply. "Heavens no, dear. You've been a big help."

He nodded shyly, placing the neatly wrapped parcels onto the floor by the television.

"In all honesty, I am thankful for you being here when she needed a friend. I didn't think I'd see her smile for a long while, I watched her on Ash and Brock's final days here. She smiled and laughed, but I saw the worry. It's hard for a mother to know there's nothing she can do to help, but you came along at exactly the right time, Paul. So thank you." She patted his shoulder and smiled.

Totally baffled by this unexpected speech from the woman he'd know but a few days, all he could muster up was a weak; "you're welcome."

"Go to bed, sweetie. You look exhausted." She ordered gently, pushing him just as lightly toward the stairs. He obeyed, his mind unable to do anything else, and shuffled up the stairs with a few trips and stumbles.

He had noticed Dawn was handling things a lot better than he'd expected. It had been less than a week and she was already smiling and laughing. He just assumed she had changed from that snivelling, over-bearing brat he'd met so long ago, grown up into a calm, collected young teenager who could handle her emotions admirably.

It had never once crossed his mind that it was his presence that was giving her this strength and control.

He slipped into the freshly-made bed, inhaling the sweet scent of clean linen and exhaling with pleasure.

Dawn was just in the other room. He could knock and go in, and ask her all the questions that plagued his mind.

But that idea only sparked off some more questions. Like why?

_Why what? _He added. _Why do you need to go in there now? Why do these questions need answering?  
><em>

_Why do you care?_

...Ahh.

_You care. _

The answer slapped him the face, and once it was apparent, many of his other questions were answered too.

Why had he felt such an ache when he'd spotted her at the port, crumpled up so?

_ I know what it feels like, I didn't want her to hurt like that too._

Why had he got off the ferry when he could have moved on with his life?

I care too much about her to walk away.

Why had he felt at ease the night after his loss to Ash?

_Because she cared enough to ask if I was alright._

* * *

><p>She stared at her ceiling, sleep not returning to her now she'd got into the warm comfort of her own bed. Maybe she could sneak back into the car and curl up there for the night.<p>

No. It was not where she lay that kept her from forty winks, but the words she'd heard in her dozing state. She'd not been far enough out to have missed them.

_He's staying here for me. _She thought, rolling onto her side and staring at the wall that separated her from Paul. _That's selfish of you, you should let him go. _

She nodded to herself. Her mind made up, her eyes fixed on the gift ticket for the ferry.

She would not be selfish. Not when he'd already given her so much; time, patience, a helping hand when she was at her lowest... She owed him, and she would repay her debt.

It would hurt her, more so than she would like, but she had enough strength for it. She would be strong until he left. It was for the best.

She turned away from that wall that gave her so much guilt. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hold back the water that seeped through her lids. Her body tensed into a ball until it gave up in exhaustion. Sleep would give her peace, if for one night only.

* * *

><p>She slumped down the stairs, one stomp by another. Piplup sprang after her, unable to sense any other mood from it's trainer other than sleepiness.<p>

Both her mother and Paul were already in the kitchen, the latter buttering a slice of toast while her mother fed Glameow and promised Piplup his was coming right up too.

"Morning." Paul said quietly, his eyes never leaving the toast. Dawn pursed her lips and nodded, unable to look at him either.

"What can I get you, sweetie?" Johanna asked as she placed a bowl of food down for Piplup.

"Nothing, thanks." Dawn muttered, placing her elbow on the table and flopping her head against it. Both Johanna and Paul looked up and stared at her, surprised by this mood. She had left them the night previously on a high, before she'd passed out in the car. Her party had been a success, and she hadn't stopped grinning from beginning to end.

"Are you feeling well?" Johanna asked, placing her hand onto her daughter's forehead and assessing the heat that radiated into her palm.

Dawn rolled her head away. "Yes, fine thank you."

Johanna looked to Paul, who was staring at Dawn with curiosity, he too was confused by this turn in attitude from the usually bubbly girl.

_Maybe she's rebounding from the high she was on last night. _His mind suggested, but his gut told him this was something more. Something he should worry about.

"Are you up for training today?" Paul asked quietly, watching very carefully for her expression. It didn't flicker from it's blankness, and she merely nodded, slipping out of the chair and wandering back up the stairs. Even Piplup glanced up from its food bowl in confusion. His trainer had never been this quiet.

Johanna, who had been watching right until Dawn disappeared up the stairs, whipped around to face Paul in a frantic panic. Paul just shrugged.

"I'll go check on her." He said, walking past the fretting mother and following Dawn up the stairs. She was probably getting dressed, so he lay his weight against the wall beside her door and waited.

It took her a few minutes, but she soon exited her bedroom and started at him being so close.

"What's wrong?" He asked the obvious, hoping to get a straight answer.

"Nothing." She insisted. Of course he wouldn't get an answer. That would be too easy. No, he had to play the guess what the female is thinking game, which was next to impossible to win unless it were to do with shopping.

"What's your problem then?"

"There isn't one." She said just as evenly, her eyes narrowing as she started down the stairs.

He managed to catch her before she reached the bottom, pinning her by the wall by placing one arm in her way.

"You're not a brilliant liar yourself, you know." He informed her, raising an eyebrow.

"Well now you've found one thing we have in common. Congrats." She commented wryly, though her face was a blank as ever.

_She was more animated when she was asleep in the car. _He smirked at the way her mouth puckered as she snored ever so gently, but he could tease her about that later.

"Do you want to train, because we should go before it gets dark." She slipped under his arm and made for the door. He looked over his shoulder, and then hurried after her.

"It's barely even light..." He rolled his eyes, closing the house door behind him.


	8. Failed You

**Chapter Seven  
><strong>_Failed You_

* * *

><p>As he trained, he couldn't help but glance at her sideways every so often. Every time, he caught her staring at him and within seconds she would glance straight down at the floor.<p>

Not sure what to make of it, he would turn away and not confront her about it. His training was sloppy as his mind was frantic, and even his pokemon were noticing it.

"I think I'm going to call it a day." He told Golduck, his composure slumped and resigned.

Dawn sighed quietly, sliding off the rock she'd not moved from and making her way over to him.

"Right." He wheeled around to face her with an accusing glare. "Last night you were all smiles and sparkles. Now you're all..." He struggled to find a word, so he gestured toward her demeanor; "this."

She shrugged past him silently, which infuriated him all the more.

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"Did somebody upset you?"

"No."

"Is it the present from Ash?"

"No."

He rubbed at his temples, growing increasingly angry. "So help me..."

"Just leave me alone, Paul! What do you want from me?" She yelled, spinning to face him. He stumbled a little back, taken back by her sudden confrontation.

"I-I-" He wasn't sure what to say when she looked at him in that hateful way. His mouth simply gaped like a Goldeen.

"Were you hoping to crush me, like you did Ash? That's how you get your kicks, isn't it?" She fumed, stomping around him. He stiffened, feeling under threat by this small girl.

"Now you wait just a second-" He tried to defend himself, but she interrupted him.

"Were you building me up to be strong so you could kick me down again so I stay there? Hmm?"

"I was trying to help you, and you know it!" He finally yelled back.

"Because I'm pathetic little Dawn who can't stand on my own two feet, can I?" She threw her arms wildly, causing him to flinch before beginning to argue back.

"I have been nothing but nice to you, girl! I didn't have to be, but I was. You're an ungrateful spoilt brat who I took pity on!" He jabbed a finger in her direction, and she sighed inwardly as he took the bait as easily as she'd expected.

Still, she continued on. "So now I'm pitiful, yeah? If I'm so pitiful, how did I get further in the Grand Festival than you did in the Sinnoh league?" She awaited the obvious blow she was about to recieve.

"Because Coordinating is weak! You're just second best to the weaker career. I'd wipe you in seconds and you know it." He realised his mistake as he'd said it, but he couldn't help it.

She put on a fake smirk and clapped her hands. "And there's the real Paul." She pulled out the ticket she'd brought for him and threw it at him. "I don't want to see you again."

"Fine!"

She didn't reply, she simply continued to storm off toward her home. From behind, she looked like the fuming hot headed girl who'd just had an argument. From the front, she was cringing inwardly, feeling like the worse person in the world.

_Everything he said was right. I am spoilt and ungrateful. I am pitiful and second best... _

Tears streamed down her face as she hurried through her town with a few glances at her. She made it to her bedroom without her mother noticing her, and she slammed her face into her pillow.

"I'm a horrible person..." She groaned.

"Sweetie, what's happened?" A soothing voice that made her all the more guilty cooed over to her. It was soon followed by a gentle hand placed upon her shoulder. It rubbed in circles as Dawn grumbled into her pillow.

"Sit up."

She did as her mother demanded, and slumped onto her shoulder as she cried.

"Tell me what's wrong, where is Paul?"

Dawn sniffed, looking at her fingers. "I gave him his ticket."

Johanna smiled, piecing things together. "Ahh..."

The young girl curled up against her mother and placed her hands on her face, hiding from the world in shame.

"Did he take it the wrong way?" Johanna asked.

"I didn't leave much room for interpretation." Dawn replied.

They stayed quiet a second, as the mother deciphered her daughter's words. The two rocked gently for a little while.

"I brought my daughter up to the right thing, the kindest thing." Johanna finally whispered her advice, knowing more than she let on.

"I don't know what that is." She insisted.

"Well you certainly can't fix anything here, can you?" Johanna smiled, raising her daughter to sit upright.

"No, I guess not." Dawn muttered, glancing to her window.

"You know what to do then." She replied, standing and retrieving something from the wardrobe. She turned and produced a brand new travel bag. It was hot pink, with white straps, and a white pokeball logo in the corner. It didn't look light, which meant it was already packed.

Dawn looked up; "How did you-"

"I've known you would be leaving soon, Dawn. I just thought you'd be leaving with Paul." The mother smiled, offering the bag.

"But I-I... I don't know..." Dawn took the bag, shocked by the weight.

"Look inside it." Johanna demanded, and her daughter did as she was told. At the top, above all of her travel necessities, was a new outfit, boots and all.

Dawn smiled; "Thanks Mom."

"Go put it on."

She obeyed without hesitation, running into her bathroom and changing quickly.

_This is it. I'm travelling again. Mom's right, I should never have been mean to Paul. _She told herself as she looked in the mirror at her tear stained face. _If only I could go back in time by an hour or two._

The outfit was not like her old travelling outfit; her short shorts a hot pink to match her new bag and sneakers, with granite grey ankle socks and the same colour tank top. She kept her poketch on, and instead of her purple beaded bangle she changed to two silver bangles. Inside the bag, she spotted a a new hat, but as she pulled it out, it was actually a white bandana, which she opted to tie around her neck.

"Perfect." Johanna smiled as she adjusted the knot in the bandana.

"I'd better go then..." Dawn worried, glancing up at her mother.

"Yes, I don't know which ferry he'll catch. I've put some food in there, enough for the both of you for a while. Ring me once you get to Kanto, okay?" Johanna listed off as the moved for the door. She opened it for her daughter, and smiled as Dawn wrapped her arms around her.

"I'll miss you, Mom."

"You too, sweetie, so much." She told her, clutching her tightly. She let her go, and the two shared one more glance as Dawn set off once more.

The mother watched as Dawn ran off into the distance once more, this time easier than the first.

"She'll be fine." She told herself, her eyes still watching though Dawn had since disappeared.

* * *

><p>"Piplup!" Her pokemon cried happily as he realised they were on another journey.<p>

"We have to get to the ferry, and fast, so I need you to keep an eye out for wild pokemon, okay? We can't stop!" Dawn said seriously, and Piplup nodded in determination. The two ran along side each other, neither one looking at each other but the vicinity around them. Every once in a while they skidded to a stop as Piplup blasted a pokemon away with a quick bubble beam.

By the time they reached the harbour, both were heavily panting, and with a quick thanks, she returned the tired pokemon and continued to hurry. The ticket man who'd served her last time wasn't there, and instead a kind looking elderly lady sat in his place.

"Excuse me?" Dawn approached, smiling gently, though she felt a little sick with worry.

The woman glanced up from her glasses and smiled back. "Yes dear."

"I'm hoping to catch a ferry to Kanto?"

The woman grimaced; "I'm sorry dear, you missed the last one today just half hour ago."

Dawn's heart sank. "Oh... Well, thanks anyway."

"Of course deary." The woman smiled sympathetically, before turning back to her work. Dawn walked off slowly.

"Well now what?" She mumbled, looking out onto the horizon, there was no ferry to be seen. She remembered the way Ash and Brock had disappeared to and stared at it, in the vain hope that a boat would suddenly appear, getting bigger as it made it's way back to docks.

_Half an hour... They're not even that far away! _She complained, running up to the edge and craning her neck to no avail.

_I failed..._


	9. Time and Again

**Chapter Eight  
><strong>_Time and again_

* * *

><p>Stunned into silence, Paul watched as she stormed off through the trees, the fury in his veins leaving him too stubborn to question her sudden and completely uncalled for outburst. He looked down at the ticket on the floor, and crouched down to receive it. It was a gift voucher, which meant he could leave at any time. He glanced up to see she'd completely disappeared, but his mind was made up.<p>

_Leave her to it. You have better things to do with your time. _He told himself as he lifted his backpack over his shoulder. With little thought on the topic other than more fuming, he set off in the other direction.

The time felt slow and painful, and although he knew he was heading in the right direction, for some reason it all felt wrong. Like he had unfinished business the other way.

_She finished it. There's nothing to go back for. _He snapped. _There was nothing to finish anyway. _

But he couldn't help wonder what could have been. He couldn't help but feel disappointed at the look of hate in her eye, the fury he'd been so used to seeing when he'd insulted her so long ago had come back with no hesitation. He felt... Hurt. Like he'd trusted her and it had backfired.

_You didn't trust her with anything. _He insisted, his conscience fighting his initial feelings. It was unusual to feel such an inner conflict.

The smell of sea drifted in, getting stronger with every step he took, and he knew he was close to the harbour. Back on track.

He checked the timetables, he had a little while wait before the ferry arrived. He eyed the cafe with bitter resentment, but it was the only place to take shelter from the harsh sea winds, and so he braved the hopelessly romantic waitresses instead.

The cafe was a little more full than his last visit, and he was thankful they didn't notice him immediately. He settled in the far corner, away from the window and from most other customers. The people he passed didn't fail to notice the tense atmosphere around him as he stalked across the room and slumped into a chair facing away from everybody.

"Hi, what can I get you?" A young girl who wasn't here the last time asked. Her face wasn't unattractive, with bright green eyes and jet black hair contrasting with her extremely pale complection was not displeasing to look at. She wore a black shirt and pencil skirt with her checked apron with frills around, and held a small notepad in hand. She smiled kindly to him, despite the distracted glare she received.

"Coffee." He muttered, his manners misplaced. The girl scribbled quickly and nodded, unphased by his attitude and hurried away.

As he glared at the wall, trying his damnedest to burn a hole through it just to make him feel better, he wondered why it was he was annoyed so. Now he'd had a little while to cool down, but still not enough to be completely calm, he could answer this question truthfully.

The answer frightened him, more than he'd expected it to, despite knowing it was true for a while. He could deny it, and he would if questions were asked about it by anybody else, but the truth was, he would never be able to lie to himself. It wasn't in his nature. He couldn't delude himself into believing he didn't have feelings for this ungrateful girl he'd willingly taken under his wing.

He slumped even further, refusing to contemplate the fact that his heart slumped as well.

He wasn't head over heels in love with her, but she was the first person he'd willingly befriended without the obligation of being a blood relative.

_Quit moping like a school girl. _He told himself, but it was easier thought than done. Especially in a place where it reminded him of her so much.

"Here you go!" The girl returned with a cup and saucer, and a small jug of milk. He thanked and tipped her, and she smiled weakly.

When he realised she wasn't leaving, he looked up from his coffee and frowned even harder. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but sat down opposite him first.

"You don't look too happy." She commented, watching his expression as it didn't falter. When he didn't reply, she continued. "Things don't have to be so bad. It just depends on how you look at the situation you're dealt with."

He scoffed at her optimism, but humoured her in the hopes that she'd leave him alone soon. "My... _Situation _is not lined with any silver."

She pursed her lips, stumped for a second, but then she smirked. "I like white clouds better than grey ones. Grey ones just rain on you."

He blinked at her, completely taken off guard by this ridiculous statement. He could appreciate she was only trying to make him feel better, but that rational side to him was a small portion to his thoughts at the time, the rest of his mind was just annoyed at this nuisance.

"We need rain to survive." He countered, his voice monotonous with boredom.

"True," she nodded; "but it also gets your hair wet, and you never feel good when your hair is wet, right?"

He shrugged. "I suppose."

He looked back down to his coffee, pouring a tiny amount of sugar in and stirring gently. When he glanced up, she was watching him again. He was beginning to get beyond annoyed at this persistent girl who had insisted on keeping him company.

Finally, she sensed this and stood. "I hope you feel better soon, it was nice meeting you."

He nodded, unable to do anything else without biting her head off, and watched her leave him with relief.

_She was only trying to help. _His quiet thoughts suggested. His louder, more prominent thoughts shoved it away with chuntering of rude remarks.

_Even her coffee is crap. _He sighed, pushing the saucer away and looking at the time.

It was time to go. He stood and made for the door, avoiding eye contact with the girl and the other waitresses, and searching for the correct ferry.

He paused. He'd made it this far the last time. Would he be able to do it this time, or would he be forever stumped, doomed to stay in Sinnoh because he was too stubborn to leave with the feeling of unfinished business here, and also too stubborn to go back and finish it.

With a slow breath in, he strode in the direction he needed to go.

"Ticket please." A man said at the bottom of the entrance ramp, and he waited patiently as Paul fished out the ticket. The man blinked in surprise at the ticket, and nodded back at him. "If you turn right as soon as you're on the ferry, talk to one of the ladies behind the counter, they will escort you to your room."

Paul nodded back and headed up the ramp, doing as he was told and handing the ticket over. The woman smiled and came out from behind the counter, and gestured for him to follow.

"You will be staying in a deluxe suite, all food and drink is complimentary, room service is available, and you are welcome in all VIP areas. Just keep your ticket with you. Here's your room key, and VIP pass. I hope you enjoy your journey." The woman listed off, and then stopped at one of the rooms. She unlocked the door and held it open for him as she held out all the things he would need to get around.

"VIP?" He asked in surprise.

She misunderstood the question. "Of course sir, level one has a VIP casino, level two has a spa, gym and pool, and the deck has a VIP area for peace and quiet should you require it."

He nodded, not wanting to correct her. Really, he was making sure he'd heard her correctly. This ticket Dawn had brought him was not a standard one at all. She'd spent a small fortune on getting him a first class ticket with all expenses paid.

It certainly didn't seem like the sort of thing a girl who didn't like him would do.

"I hope you enjoy your stay." The woman finalised, bowing and leaving the room. He dropped his bag by the bed, and scanned the room he'd been provided with.

He realised within seconds that he'd never been in a room quite like it. The flooring was real wood, light and airy, but he could already feel it was heated. The main living area was luxurious, with a royal blue chaise lounge and a matching arm chair adjacent. Both surrounding a fifty inch flat screen that he guessed would have every channel he could imagine on.

There was of course, no kitchen. With all expenses paid, nobody would choose to cook when they could simply order anything they desired. There was, though, a fridge mounted in the wall, which he opened to find it was stocked with drinks of all varieties, along with various snacks should he be too hungry to wait for room service.

The bedroom, separate to the living area, was similar in decoration. The bedding a royal blue with silver scatter cushions and matching curtains over his large window. There were two chest of drawers either side of the king-sized bed, with touch-sensitive lamps, and a phone and a clock on the one side. The en suite, accessible through the bedroom, was not to be overshadowed by the rest of the room. With a bath that could easily pass off as a hot-tub due to its size in the middle of the room, mounted so high it had a few steps to assist climbing into it. A shower stood in the corner of the room, along with a huge mirror on one wall, and of course, a toilet and sink which looked extremely high-tech.

He inhaled slowly, unable to understand why, (and how, for that matter) she had spent so much on this for him. The words she'd said, mere hours ago, and the evidence that stood before him did not match up, it made no sense.

No matter how he thought about it, he was unable to realise that because this ticket was very much real, it must mean her words had been lies. He may not have understood her, but any anger that had been bubbling had cooled for the time being, and hunger kicked in.

* * *

><p>With his hunger satisfied, and his mind calm, he wandered aimlessly until he found himself on the deck and due to avoiding people he'd wound up in the VIP area. He was easily the youngest person there, and he received a few wary looks due to this youth. He ignored this and walked to the ship's edge, leaning against the barrier. Classical music was being played live by a string quartet, and he could see in his peripherals that people were dancing to it with their partners. There were people chattering quietly at tables lit by gentle candlelight, and every so often there would be the joyful sound of laughter.<p>

Everything was out to remind him of her.

Or he was using everything he saw to think about her time and again.

Either way, she was in his thoughts. The memory of them dancing may have only been the night before, but now it seemed so distant, like he'd made it up. Like he'd imagined the gentle weight of her head on his shoulder, and her soft palm fitting into the contours of his own. The way her fingers had gently brushed him, and her nails had only slightly dug in. His other hand had held her waist gently, and the curve was so comfortable to rest on. How could such a tender, caring moment have been followed by this day? It just didn't seem real. It must have been though, how could a dream have that much detail in it?

It didn't matter anyway, one thing was definitely clear.

He was becoming unhealthily obsessed with her.

* * *

><p><strong>And you thought he wouldn't get on the boat.<br>At least there was fluff. **

**I apologise for the last chapter, it was a little hectic and rushed, but that's because Dawn's side to things was hectic and rushed. So I took a step back, and created this chapter for Paul's side of things. I hope I made up for that. Paul's interesting to focus on, especially with this conflict going on. I may have gotten a little carried away. What do you think though?**


	10. You and Me

**Chapter Nine  
><strong>_You and me_

* * *

><p>The weather had turned from decent, to horrific in a matter of minutes, not helping the fact that he was already a little sea sick anyway. Paul chose to brave the cold rain in favour of seeing the horizon to help settle his stomach as best possible, the sacrifice being his dry clothes and hair.<p>

He closed his eyes and lifted his head to the sky, allowing the heavy raindrops to collide onto the plains of his face, feeling oddly soothed by such a battering. The sound of rushing was making him woozy, and he could have sworn he was hearing things.

Nobody was on the deck other than himself, and he wasn't cruel enough to force his pokemon to endure this weather just for the sake of company, and yet it was company that he craved. It had been a while since he'd been alone for such a long period of time now.

The winds whispered his name as he curled up against a chair, tucking his head between his knees. Nothing he tried worked, and he wished he'd never gone on the ferry. It was like warning after warning not to go to Kanto.

It was a little while before he realised it wasn't the wind calling to him. His imagination had been running wild through his current state of health, and so he simply ignored it.

Until a hand landed on his shoulder gently. He recoiled away from it, and caused the owner of the hand to jump back in surprise too. He looked up and frowned.

"I'm sorry sir, but I was ordered to bring everybody inside the ferry, a storm is heading our way." The young woman wearing a large rain coat yelled over the hungry waves that were tossing the huge ferry around like it was nothing.

"Of course, sorry." He replied, allowing her to assist him in standing, and following her below deck.

"We'll be alright, won't we?" He asked, glancing uneasily at the sheet lightning that flashed above the clouds.

"Yes sir, the ferry is made to withstand much worse than this." She replied confidently, but then frowned at his paling face. "Are you feeling sick, sir?"

"A little." He grunted, but the shade of green he was taking on spoke more truthfully.

"Here, I was told to offer these to anybody who needs them." She held out her hand in an offering, and he took a sickness pill from her. He smiled weakly and nodded, then they went their separate ways. He headed for his room, she braved the top deck once more.

Entering his luxurious room, he glanced at the tiny box containing two pills in and read the instructions. He realised they were to settle his stomach, whilst knocking him out while he waited, and it sounded pretty appealing. Without hesitation, he swallowed both with the help of a glass of water, and got changed while he waited for the pills to kick in. Not five minutes later, he found himself collapsed on the bed and within seconds his vision was blurring at the sides. Sleep took over without any resistance, and he succumbed to the numbness that was forty winks.

* * *

><p>Even though her shift was over, due to the storm, she'd been called out to work through the night. She sighed, having gotten the short straw in going to the top deck to get soaked. Today was not her day. She began to scan the place where she'd found the young man before, but nobody else seemed to be up here, nobody was mad enough to get so wet.<p>

Still, a job was a job. She continued walking around the deck.

It was just as she was beginning to come back around the other side did she realise that a little white flash in her peripherals was far too constant to be lightning. She looked in the direction, and saw that the white dot was getting rapidly bigger.

Just seconds later, a large white flying type crashed down onto the decking, and a girl rolled off of it.

"Oh my goodness!" She cried in surprise, hurrying over and placing two fingers onto the girl's throat. She sighed in relief at the feeling of a strong throbbing beneath her ice cold skin.

The Togekiss looked up at her sadly, then hurried to what the lady presumed was it's trainer. The passed out girl before her was dry in no place, and she convulsed at the coldness around her. Without a moments hesitation, the lady released her pokemon; a Sceptile who scooped up the girl with ease and followed her into the ferry. The Togekiss followed.

The four of them hurried to the elevator, rushing the girl to the medical facility. The room was just down the corridor, and it was empty other than the doctor who was on duty. The middle-aged man was a handsome, honey blonde whose features were chisled and yet somehow kind as he smiled warmly.

"What do we have here then?" He asked, looking calmly at the shivering girl in the Sceptile's arms.

"She'd been flying near us on her Togekiss." The woman explained; "They collapsed on the deck."

"Would you take the Togekiss to Nurse Joy please?" He asked kindly, and the woman ushered the pokemon out without another word.

He looked to the girl and sighed. She didn't look in any danger, just as long as he made sure she warmed up quickly.

He began removing her clothes, replacing them with towelling robes. His Flareon, who was gifted with Heal Bell, sat down next to the girl and began warming her up.

"Keep that up." The doctor muttered, as he could already see the girl coming around. She winced against the light that seeped through her eyelids.

"Ma'am, are you in pain?" He asked, gentle concern in his voice.

She opened her eyes to face a man she did not recognise, but understood immediately who he was. His ears were plugged with a stethoscope, she looked down to see he was checking her breathing, so she waited to reply.

"I have a headache." She told him honestly; "and my joints are aching."

"That would be the cold." He offered a drink and painkilling tablets. "What on earth possessed you to fly into such a terrible storm?"

"I was heading for Kanto." She said. "The weather was fine when I left."

He frowned, but didn't question it. "What's your name?"

"Dawn." She introduced herself, sitting up slowly and pulling the robe tighter over her.

"Well Dawn," he fiddled with his glove and then picked up a device which he placed inside her ear. "It was a good job Togekiss found the ferry, there was no way you would have made it to Kanto, even in perfect weather."

"Oh, I guess you're right." She muttered, not wanting to tell him she was really aiming for the ferry.

He checked the device and then placed it for cleaning. "I think you're good to go, Dawn. We'll get you a room and you can have a warm bath, and then things should be taken care of."

"Thank you, doctor." She bowed her head gratefully. "But where's my Togekiss?"

"Being taken care of in the pokemon centre, I'll have her sent to you as soon as she's ready." He informed her.

"Okay, thanks!" She beamed, and allowed him to escort her to the reception area.

* * *

><p>With a room key and pokeball in her hand, she decided to retire, as her body was still shivering slightly. She could not afford another luxury ticket, which she would have loved at the moment in time to use their grand bath tubs, but alas, she'd spent enough money on the last ticket. She would make do with the average bath.<p>

Just as she was turning a corner to her corridor, she paused. In her peripherals, a flash of purple had caught her eye, and she glanced over. Her heart felt like it had momentarily stopped, but when she realised it was a boy with a purple cap on, she sighed and went to her room.

Her room was by no means basic, despite the fact it was called a 'standard suite'. Her bed was still huge, and there was a television, phone and en suite that would do her just fine until she reached Kanto.

_Why did I even bother coming? I'll never find him now, I'm lucky to be alive. _She thought, throwing herself onto the bed whilst her bath ran.

She released Piplup for comfort, and he cuddled up to her whilst she curled around him. "What are we going to do...?"

"'laaa?" The tiny pokemon chimed cutely, staring up at her with his large innocent eyes.

"Ash might still be in Kanto. It would be nice to see him and Pikachu, yeah?" She suggested, and Piplup's expression lit up at the idea.

_That probably won't be the best of ideas. _She told herself. _It was hard enough to say goodbye last time. _Just the thought of it was making her teary-eyed. Piplup patted her face sweetly.

She stood and distracted herself by checking the bath. The water was overwhelmingly hot, she had to suck on her finger to cool it down.

"Well, I better leave this for a little while. Want to come and get some food, Piplup?" She raised her voice so the pokemon could hear. When she reentered the room, the water pokemon's stomach rumbled. She laughed; "Some things never change, huh?"

"Piiiplaaa..." It grumbled, allowing her to pick him up and be carried out.

The two were chatted one-sidedly as they followed their noses toward wherever the wonderful scent they could smell was coming from. Piplup's stomach rumbled fiercely and so Dawn picked up her pace.

She swivelled around the corner, expected to see an array of delicious food choices. Instead, her nose rammed into something, and she sprang back in surprise.

It was not the only thing to surprise her.

"P-Paul."

He stared down at her like she were a mild inconvenience he couldn't stand. Though that was probably because that's what she was to him.

He did not ask anything, he simple turned on his heels and walked the other way.

"Wait, Paul! Please!" She cried, hurrying after him whilst returning Piplup. He didn't need to hear this.

"I have nothing to say to you." He growled back at her, eyes darting around for a route of escape. It didn't help that the pills had worn off, and he was feeling nauceous again.

"We still need to talk!" She insisted, running around him to stop him. He skidded to a halt, then tried to turn back. She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. He glared at her hand, and then followed it to glare at her. It was enough to make her recoil back, but she persisted.

"Please. Let me explain." She begged.

"I think you made it perfectly clear the last time, don't you?" He inched his face closer to her threateningly, and she craned her neck away, feeling nervous under this new anger he was emitting.

"No," she muttered, looking down out of cowardice. "I didn't explain myself at all. I... I-I'm so sorry."

"Please." He scoffed taking a step back. "You couldn't wait for an opportunity to jump down my throat. You'd just been building up to knock me down. Was it your grand plan? Was your little friend in on it?"

"No, please listen to me-"

"You listen to me this time, if your airy little brain can do that for more then two seconds." He looked up from underneath his hair, his signature look whilst belittling someone. "You mean nothing to me. I don't want anything to do with you. You're a liar, only out for yourself and I'm not going to stand here and let you play me like every other poor soul you deceive."

She stood, speechless, her mouth hanging open slightly and her eyes wide and unable to tear up. He shoved her aside, and she clattered against the wall without resistence.

He winced at the sound of her body thumping down to the floor, but did not look back as he stormed past.

"See how easy it is to lie?" She whimpered, her body still facing away from him, slumped against the wall with her legs curled up.

He stumbled to a stop, pausing at her words, but only to snap back. "I'm not lying. Go back to Sinnoh you silly little girl."

But as he continued to walk down the corridor, her words haunted him, how easily had she seen through him, or had she called his bluff? He prayed it was the latter, for the thought of her reading him like a poker professional terrified him.

* * *

><p><strong>Angsty Paul. *drools*<br>Apologies for delay. Major block. Loads of work. Blah blah you've heard it all before. Next chapter should come easily to me. **


	11. Alright

**Chapter** **Ten**  
><em>Alright<em>

* * *

><p>The corridors seemed to go on forever, and his stomach tossed and curled uneasily as he was thrown from side to side by the rocking of the ocean. He let out a pained moan, fumbling for his key quickly as his shaky fingers struggled to numbly feel through his pockets.<p>

With another lurch of the sea, his stomach could take no more. It tensed in a way that he instinctively knew he had seconds before he would vomit. He threw all his possessions out of his pockets and scrambled at the key, slamming the door open and sprinting for the bathroom. He could not throw up on these expensive VIP carpets. He would never live it down.

Thankfully, he managed to not make a mess. He ran his fingers through his hair and held it out of his face as he revisited his last meal. A cold sweat ran over him, and he suddenly felt ridiculously weak.

The waves rocked him again, and he slammed into the wall that was beside him, his cheek stinging slightly, but the cool tiles soothed it better.

"Umm... hello?"

He groaned, turning his head slightly to see Dawn had followed him with all his possessions in her hands and a very confused expression. She scanned the room for him and spotted him through the door. She took a moment to register how drastically he'd changed in the past few seconds, then dropped the items on his bed and ran over.

"Are you alright?"

He wanted to bark at her and tell her to go away, but his core muscles tensed and he automatically lurched for the toilet once again.

"Sea sickness?" She asked quietly, automatically turning into her motherly role, pulling his hair back and rubbing his shoulder blades. He didn't try to stop her, it was too soothing.

"The woman... Pills." He gasped breathlessly, then coughed and spat up more bile.

"Alright, I'll be right back." She stood up, hurrying out of the door and forgetting their little feud. Hopefully, helping him would help things return to normal, though it wasn't the reason she was doing it.

She ran up the stairs to the reception area. The place was vacant, like a ghost ship while people huddled away. The boat rocked again, and she stumbled to one side from the impact.

She walked up to the counter, glancing over it to see there were a pack of pills there anyway. She picked them up and shuffled through them to find the correct ones, and with a quick glance over her shoulder, she pocketed them and hurried away before she could get caught.

The ship leapt off a wave all of a sudden, giving her a weightless feeling for just a few moments, and then a huge crash of waves around them sent her tumbling to the floor and banging her head against a door. It wasn't until she shook her head free of confusion did she realise alarms were suddenly ringing and red lights were flashing.

"This is the captain speaking, please remain calm. This is not a drill. Please follow the stewards to the nearest life boats and they will escort you to safety. Repeat, this is not a drill."

She could hear screams coming from several directions, and people were suddenly flooding the corridors like swarms of Beedrill.

"This way ma'am." A hand wrapped around her arm, and she was escorted toward the back of the ship. She tried to struggle, but the woman's grip was firm. "We have to leave." She insisted.

"No! My friend!"

"We don't have time, you will be reunited when you're safe." The woman told her, still dragging her.

Dawn followed for a few seconds so the woman's grip loosened, and then once she saw an opportunity as the boat rocked again, she pulled free and ran in the opposite direction. It was a fight against the crowds, but they were so panicked she could shove them aside and they wouldn't raise the issue. Reaching down a now dead corridor, she began to sprinting down it, and the floor was starting to tilt downward. It only assisted her speed further.

She reached the door, and Paul's room was still open. Only this time the TV had smashed along the floor and most of the furniture had slid across the room.

"Paul?" She hurried for the bathroom to see him sprawled along the bathroom floor his body limp like he was asleep.

She shrieked his name again at the sight of blood oozing from the back of his head, and dropped to his side to check it. At the feeling of her gentle hands, he stirred and winced at the pain. She kept him still and checked the wound. It didn't look terrible, just like he'd collided into a wall and received a scratch as he did so. There wasn't loads of blood, and he was regaining consciousness, so she took it as a good sign.

"Where am I?" He asked, wincing against the artificial light. She moved over him so she blocked the light from reaching him, and he blinked his eyes open and tried to focus on her. "Dawn?"

"Concussion." She muttered to herself. Being a traveller, it was expected of them to know basic first aid should anything happen. The only real cure for concussion was rest, and he certainly couldn't do that there and then. "Come on, we've got to get off the ferry." She told him quickly. This definitely wasn't going to be easy.

"Wha-" She didn't give him chance to question her further, but he wasn't helping her by carrying his own weight. She hooked her head under his arm and heaved him up, just about standing him on his feet and then stumbling to another tilt of the boat.

"Time to go." She picked up his bag and threw his possessions into it, then slung it over her shoulder, leading him out of his room. They had a few flight of stairs to climb, and she had to retrieve Togekiss before she could leave.

"Paul, I need you to wake up." She said sternly, instinct taking over her. She struggled to get him walking, and she wasn't strong enough to be carrying him for a long stretch of time. She squeezed his ribs and shook him slightly, but his head lolled onto her shoulder as he blinked unseeingly. He stumbled and landed on his knees, his reflexes trying to hold him upright but were too slow. Dawn was quick enough to catch him. "Paul!" She crouched beside him holding his head upright to look at her.

"What's going on?" He mumbled, opening his eyes and seeing her worried face.

"The ship is sinking, we've got to get off!" She squealed, and he recoiled away from her.

"Alright." He muttered, placing a hand onto his knee to ready himself to stand up. She hovered beneath him, ready to catch him should he fail to get upright. "Can I have a minute?" He looked up to her; "Do we have time."

She glanced around, the halls were empty of people and human cries. She pursed her lips. Had everybody left already? She could still feel the boat rocking, which meant they were still above sea level. "Not long." She nodded back at him once she'd decided.

He nodded back at her and breathed in slowly. His mind scrambled to pull itself together, if only for a little while. He remembered the argument, he remembered walking away and feeling sea sick. Things became pretty blurry after that, flashing pictures; many too unfocussed to make out, but then distinctive blue popped up, and her voice was sharp and clear.

"We've got to get moving." She said, a hand clutching his arm. "Are you ready?"

He snapped back to reality, things were still moving too slow for him to make out properly, but it was enough for him to process thoughts. _Stand up. _He commanded his body, and in one go, his body obeying shakily, and Dawn was assisting him by taking some of his weight.

"Right." He said, looking down at her. She nodded up at him and took his waist, and he dangled his arm over her shoulder for support. They turned for the stairs, and she pushed him toward the banister so he could hold it firmly.

"I have to get Togekiss first. Will you wait here?" She tried to push him to sit on the bottom step, but he buckled his legs and refused.

"We shouldn't split up. I'll come with you." He insisted.

"But-"

"We can't let anything happen to each other if we're going to make it out alive." He told her. She hesitated, but nodded in agreement. She took her place under his shoulder again and they followed the signs toward the pokemon centre. The heavy glass doors wouldn't open electronically, so they let go of each other and took a door each.

"One, two... Three!" Dawn grunted, throwing her weight backwards so the door prized open. Paul did the same on the other side, and then they looked at each other. If they let go, it would snap back shut.

"Go!" He told her, steadying his feet and nodding.

She edged closer, and then quickly rolled between the doors. Paul resisted for a second longer, and then the doors snapped shut.

"What do you see?" His muffled voice called through.

"Not much!" She shouted back, wincing into the darkness. Her eyes weren't adjusting at all. She fumbled around with her hands in front of her, and felt a shelf. With further inspection, there were many shelves. Only nothing was on them.

"They're all gone!" She cried. "Somebody has taken Togekiss!" Panic and horror ripped through her, somebody had stolen her beloved pokemon!

"Probably Nurse Joy, come on let's go!" He told her.

She prayed he was right, and hurried for the door. Just as she reached it, the ferry rocked again, this time far worse than any other time. She found herself falling right back down to the other side of the room, and smashing against the shelves. Her back took the impact, and she yelped in pain.

"Dawn!"

"I'm alright!" She yelled through, though she knew that would bruise horrifically. She glanced around the room, and saw that everything was tilted diagonally. The door was above her, and she could see Paul was standing on it.

"You're going to have to smash the glass!" She tiptoed across the shelves that were now her floor, and began to climb the ones that were bolded to the walls. She heard the smash of glass behind her, and turned to see Paul had peered through and spotted her.

"Jump!" His hand reached toward her, and without hesitation, she leapt for his hand. Both hands grasped each other's wrists, both of them tight with strain. Nails dug in, and they both grunted from the sudden pull. The boat rocked again, throwing Paul forward, but he caught himself with his other arm, his palm being ripped to shreds with the shattered glass beneath it.

She looked up at him, and wondered what to do next. He wasn't balanced enough to hoist her up, and she was too far to climb up herself. Mamoswine was too big for the hallway, and all the other pokemon she had with her were too small to help. Paul couldn't reach his pokemon with both his hands occupied. They just needed a push...

"Buneary!" She reached into her pocket with her spare hand and released the Buneary beneath her. It looked around curiously, then up and squeaked in surprise at the situation her trainer was in.

"Use bounce!" Dawn commanded, and her pokemon set into action quickly. The two were thrown up and out of the room, and landed in a slump on the floor, Buneary included.

"Thanks Buneary..." Dawn muttered, groaning as she placed her hands around Paul, who she had landed upon, and pushed herself up onto her knees. He groaned beneath her, and rolled over to see her face. They looked at each other, not quite sure whether to laugh or not.

They hadn't the energy to be amused by the predicament, nor was it really the time and place. The sobered quickly when the boat rocked again, and he caught Dawn before she could land on him again.

During her fall, she'd squeezed her eyes shut, and as she opened them, they were extremely close. The look in his eye reminded her of how she'd hurt him, and she looked away out of shame.

"I'm really sorry, you know." She told him, sitting up and hoisting him up to.

"Another time, Dawn. Let's get off this death trap first." He tightened his grip around her hand, and nodded at her, telling her everything would be okay with just that simple gesture.


	12. Break

**For the music that really set the mood for this chapter for me, listen to 'Tracking Templar', 'The Hunt' and 'The Pursuit' from the Assassin's Creed Revelations Soundtrack. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven<br>**_Break_

* * *

><p>A horrible scraping noise blasted through the halls, pushing her to move her legs faster, her grip on Paul's wrist getting tighter as she kept him in tow. Buneary hopped uneasily beside her, her ears curled tightly to her head in worry.<p>

They turned, and found the stairs they had come down. With a quick glance up, Paul took the lead and began running up them, a grunt of exertion escaping his lips. His head pounded, sending nauseating waves of pain through him every second, but through sheer force of will, he remained conscious.

"Look out!"

Dawn tugged him backwards, narrowly missing the wall of the corridor as it caved in. Within seconds of it bending, heavy amounts of water forced its way through, rushing each and every way.

"Ice beam!" Dawn cried, pointing toward it.

Paul fumbled through his pockets, finding the distinctly patterned pokeball containing his Golduck. Together, the water type and the brown rabbit pokemon formed an ice plug that held the water back.

"Come on!" He yelled over the sound of water battering away against the walls. The two shadowed their pokemon as they hurried along the hallway, eyes darting for dangers and a route of escape.

"Paul!" Dawn pointed in the direction of more water heading their way. The pokemon sufficiently blocked it for mere moments, and they retreated in the opposite direction.

"This is the wrong way Paul!" She cried, trying to halt him.

"We can't go back that way we'll never make it." He shook her closer to his side so they could run faster together. His thoughts were becoming more and more scrambled, adrenaline being the only thing that kept him going.

The sea lurched, throwing them forward and consequently forcing them to let go of each other. The tumbled to the floor, grabbing onto anything to pick themselves up, their pokemon helping them stand. Without pause, the ferry rocked in the other direction, this time far worse than any previous. They were near vertical, and only because they'd been gripped onto the hand rail had they managed to keep themselves from falling into the water that was crawling its way up the corridor. Golduck had fallen down, and was desperately trying to hold the raging water back.

"This way!" Paul yelled, yanking open a door that was now above them. Water rushed through the doorway and into the depths below, soaking him in the process and causing him to almost lose his grip. Dawn leapt from her hand rail to the other side, using the door as her floor. Paul rocked from beneath it, but her hand found his just in time.

"Return, Buneary!" She insisted, putting the pokeball into her pocket safely.

"Aqua jet!" Paul called down, and Golduck obeyed, assisting him up onto the door. They looked into the room scanning for an escape, and Dawn pointed. The only other door was underwater, but light was seeping from that direction.

"Hell no!" He insisted as she grabbed his wrists.

"Jump!" Dawn squealed yanking him before the water from the corridor reached them. They fell into the pool below them, and it took them a few seconds to orient themselves, but with a shove from Golduck, they began swimming for the door.

They pulled themselves through the door, looking up for signs of a new surface. It seemed far, but they didn't have a choice. With a hand gesture to Golduck, and with the help of Piplup being released, the four sped upward, the humans' lungs aching to exhale.

Finally, the water broke from around them, and they gasped loudly in relief. They couldn't stop, they didn't have time. Water was already rushing in from above them, meeting them in the vertical corridor and raising the water level. Just with one glance up, they could see if they stayed in the corridor they would drown.

The ferry rocked again, throwing them into a wall, which collapsed from the combined force of them and the water pressure. Thankfully, the room they'd landed in was dry, for the moment, and it allowed them chance to look around the room for their next route.

"A window!" Dawn cried with relief pointing to the ceiling. They could both see the storm clouds crackling above the ferry, and flashes of sheet lightning lit up the room momentarily.

Paul found another pokeball, knowing it would need some power to break open the thick sheets of glass. "Ursaring! Focus blast!"

The gigantic bear pokemon roared as it was switched out with Golduck, completely unphased by the room and surroundings due to being solely focussed on pleasing it's master. With a swing of its bulky arms, a tremendous amount of power gathered between its palms and was thrown toward the window above them.

"Get down!" Paul grunted as he tackled Dawn away from the falling roof. Ursaring slashed its way through the rubble, and offered help to its master. Rain battered at their already soaked bodies, and water had begun lapping through the hole they'd created in the wall.

"Here, I'll give you a boost." Paul dragged her toward the wall furthest from the hole. Ursaring stood by him ready to lift them both.

She hesitated as she watched clamp his fingers together in front of him and lowered for her to put a foot in. "But I-"

"Dawn!" He glared up at her, startling her into action. She placed her hands onto his shoulders and hoisted her feet into his palm. All together, they lifted upward, Ursaring hoisting them just short of the hole. She timed it just right to leap from Paul's hands just as he threw her. Her hands clamped onto the hole in the roof, cutting her palms just as badly as Paul had. With a small pause to gather strength, she swung her legs in a way to pull herself up onto the outside of the ferry.

"Ursaring." Without any other words, Paul's pokemon was already pushing him higher, and he leapt too. Dawn's hands were already there to catch him, and as they hoisted themselves up, Ursaring was returned into the safety of its pokeball.

Once steady and on their feet, they looked around to see the ocean angrily whipping around, crashing against the ferry and creating monstrous waves. The ferry was almost completely underwater, and, to their horror, there were several bodies floating around in the grasp of the hungry sea.

Dawn heaved, and turned to Paul in an attempt to focus. "What now?"

He kept looking around, there was no sign of life around them, no lifeboats, no humans, no pokemon. There was no way Golduck would be able to pull them to safety, and his mind was coming up blank with a solution.

"We look for a boat." He yelled over the storm's clamour.

Dawn nodded and looked too, her back pressing against him so as not to lose him while she looked away. She couldn't see much of anything, her eyes squinting against the heavy rain and her hair plastering across her face, blinding her.

With what little sight she had, she could see there was no way off the sinking wreck. "What are we going to do?" She cried, backing up closer to Paul in horror.

Before they could turn to look for a solution, a wave that rivalled the height of a department store loomed over them, rendering them speechless. Without thought, both of them began running along the ferry's outer wall, trying to get as far away from the wave as possible. A quick glance over their shoulders told them that no amount of running would stop it from hitting them.

"Dive!" Dawn suddenly thought, heading for the edge as quickly as possible. The two of them leapt off the edge of the ferry, inhaling as much air as possible before they hit the ocean's rough surface.

Blackout.

* * *

><p>The sound of sea had never left her ears, and yet it had calmed down to a soothing lullaby. With a light cough, she woke herself up and opened her eyes. The sky was a light blue, with very few clouds drifting by gently. The smell was salty, which she assumed was the sea she could hear and feel brushing her toes.<p>

She raised her head and groaned at the aching feeling that consumed her whole body. With very little idea as to how she wound up on such a stunning beach, but upon searching her memory, she pieced things together pretty well.

"Paul?" She called, sitting up and looking around. There he was, lay face down further along the beach. She began to scrabble up and fell to her knees at his side. "Paul? Are you okay?" She asked as she turned him to rest his head on her knees. She felt for a pulse, and leaned in to hear his breathing.

"Yeah, are you?" A voice whispered in her ear just as she'd leant close enough. She startled back and looked down at him, smiling as he opened his eyes.

She sighed and nodded, pulling his sodden hair from his face and then helping him to sit up. He stared out into the horizon, wondering which way they'd come from, and how they'd ended up here, wherever they were.

"That was quite the adventure, huh?" Dawn muttered, looking out to the same direction as he. She could see he nodded in her peripherals.

"It was no natural storm though, there's no way a ferry with that kind of technology would sink so fast under natural conditions." He frowned, looking down at his stinging hands. Blood had congealed and hardened where his skin had been ripped open, and around it there were deep purple bruises.

"You think a pokemon did that?" Dawn asked. He nodded again. She thought back to when she'd brought the ticket. "There was news that there was a storm, but the ticket man said they wouldn't have sailed unless the path was safe again."

"Then it started when we'd already set sail." He concluded, standing up and brushing himself off as best he could.

"Do you think whatever caused this was aiming for the ferry?" She wondered, following his example and turning away from the shore. In the distance she spotted a small town that looked extremely inviting after the ordeal they'd just been through. Paul had spotted it too, and they began walking for it.

"It's a bit coincidental if it wasn't." Paul replied.

"Or really unlucky?" She countered, glancing at him as she watched where she was walking.

He smirked at her optimism, and decided to humour her; "Perhaps."

Just as they reached the town, Dawn looked around for any sign posts, but there wasn't a single one to tell them where they were. The town was quiet, and it took a few minutes more of wandering before she spotted a civilian.

"Excuse me!" Dawn called, turning on her best sweet voice.

The woman turned around to face Dawn, and smiled as she recognised her.

"Cynthia?"

Paul stiffened, his eyes coming into focus as he came face to face with the woman who was champion to his home region, the woman who had consequentiality slaughtered his ego when he'd arrogantly demanded a battle when he wasn't ready.

"Dawn! How lovely it is to see you. And Paul." The champion smiled brilliantly to him, never once noticing the tense atmosphere that was engulfing him.

Dawn, however, was acutely aware of how uncomfortable he was. "Umm... It's great to see you too, Cynthia. Sorry to be rude, but we've had a rough night, do you know anywhere we can clean up?"

"Of course, I'm stopping in a villa just over there which you're welcome to come to." Cynthia eyed them with concern as she gestured for the large villa she was staying at. The two of the followed, desperate for warmth.

"Umm... Cynthia?" Dawn hurried to the woman's side and looked up at her. "Where are we?"

The champion chuckled, but did not ask why they didn't know. "Undella Town, Dawn."

"We're in Unova?" Paul suddenly perked up, his voice full of shock. Cynthia did not bat an eyelid at his sudden outburst.

"Yes, why? Where did you think you were?"

Dawn smiled nervously; "It's a long story."

* * *

><p><strong>This totally didn't end how I wanted it to, but I kinda like this path of plot better, I think. I hope you do too. <strong>

**I cannot believe I have over 90 reviews already. Thank you so so much! You have no idea how much it eggs me on to write more and more for you. ^^**


	13. Change

**Chapter Twelve  
><strong>_Change_

* * *

><p>Things were buzzing around her too frantically for her to really take much of it in. Since she had explained to Cynthia what had happened to them, the police and the paramedics had been alerted, and they had swarmed the beach. The police had spoken to her, and had been checked by the paramedics but they were still checking over Paul. Many people had gathered and were trying to help, many news crews had began setting up and were trying to call to her.<p>

Cynthia placed a hand onto her shoulder and circled her to sit down next to her.

"How are you feeling?" The champion asked, gentle concern in her eyes and a delicacy in her firm grip.

"A little sick." Dawn muttered, her hand already clutching her stomach, even though she knew she wasn't going to be sick, it wasn't a physical illness.

"You must feel traumatised." Cynthia muttered, watching the younger girl carefully for signs of breaking down. Surprisingly, she didn't look like she was going to cry any time soon.

"All those bodies." She stared into space, reliving the moment. "I couldn't do anything. I thought..." Her eyes wandered to the ambulance that was holding Paul. "I thought we were going to join them."

The stong, older woman moved to crouch in front of Dawn and placed her hands around either side of her face. "You were very brave, Dawn. Much braver than a child your age should ever have to be, and not only for yourself, but for Paul too. I know you must feel guilty, but you couldn't have saved everybody. You couldn't have battled a natural disaster."

"But I didn't try..." Dawn muttered, having no choice but to look Cynthia in the eye, trembled between her hands. "He could have died. I made him leave... If only I-"

"No 'if's Dawn, you can never go back and change the past. What's happened is terrible, but it's happened. You're going to pull through this, and you're going to help Paul to as well, do you hear?" Cynthia shook her gently, and the harsh reality shocked Dawn to the core. She knew she needed to hear it, but it still smarted, and tears stung in her eyes.

"I-" She gulped, desperately holding back the tears from one of her biggest influences.

"Dawn?"

Her eyes shot open and the both of them turned to see Paul had left the ambulance and looked more aware of his surroundings than when he'd been whisked away. Still, his eyes were bleary, and his walk was slightly staggered as if his balance wasn't at its peak.

Cynthia stood and faced him. "Have they given you the okay?"

"They told me to rest for a couple of days but I should be fine." He replied politely, and then turned to Dawn. "Shall we head for the pokemon centre?"

"There's no need." Cynthia spoke up for her, and smiled gently. "You will be better to rest in the villa, it is more private than the pokemon centre."

Paul glanced to Dawn, who nodded gently. "If you're sure." She said.

"Of course." The champion smiled, gesturing for them to follow. Paul fell into step beside Dawn, eyeing her carefully.

She noticed this and put on a brave face. "Are you okay?"

"They said I'll be fine." He said quietly.

She sighed; "I didn't mean that." She looked up sheepishly to him, then back down at her feet.

He didn't reply for a little while, his eyes tracing the footprints Cynthia was leaving and looked at her to see if she was listening. She seemed content in taking in the scenery, and wasn't showing any signs of paying attention to them.

"I don't know what you mean." He admitted. When he glanced to her, her eyes were saddened. She couldn't look straight back at him, and instead they dropped to the floor.

"I... I was the reason you were on than ship." She said. "If I hadn't been so horrible to you..."

"I think we've been through a little too much already to restart that petty argument, don't you?" He sighed, trying to cheer her up. She didn't even flicker a smile.

"But it doesn't clear my conscience." She looked up at him pleadingly.

He inhaled slowly and released it in one quick huff. "What you said-"

"I was wrong." She interrupted, her eyes firmly on the floor. "I don't even know what I was thinking when I said it. I-I..." She paused, and looked to him for help, as if he knew what went through her head.

And for some reason, he thought he did understand. He had no idea how or why, but her eyes spoke louder than words. They were... Frightened.

"Are you afraid?" He asked, stopping her from walking. She turned to him, her eyes unable to wander as they watered. If she blinked she would most definitely cry.

"Of what?" She replied quietly, quickly clamping down on her bottom lip with her teeth after her voice wavered.

He didn't know that much, so after a moments hesitation, he took a stab in the dark. "Of me."

She didn't reply for a second as she contemplated, still watching as his eyes scrutinised her. He was intimidating, but he wouldn't act upon it, so why would she be scared of him?

"Of me hurting you?" He added.

It seemed to hit a nerve between the two of them, and she managed to break the eye contact by noticing Cynthia had stopped further down the beach and had politely given them a moment. It didn't stop her glancing curiously toward them every few seconds.

Paul definitely had the power to hurt her. He'd done it before, he was smart and ruthless. If he'd wanted to, she could be crushed right there while she was an easy target. It was definitely a frightening thought, but looking at how he was concerned for her, she questioned whether he'd ever be willing to hurt her.

"No." She finalised, looking him in the eye again. He blinked, his eyebrows furrowing as he tilted his head. She explained; "I'm frightened I've hurt you though."

He let that sink in a moment, and turned to walk. She followed, anxious to hear what he thought.

"It wasn't pleasant." He told her honestly. "You were..." He droned off, unable to find the courage to speak his mind.

"I was?" She pressed, walking right behind his shoulder and peering over his shoulder. It was a habit of hers, it seemed.

He glanced over to her, then looked away. "I don't make friends very often." It wasn't a confession, it was something she easily deduced herself. She could see what he meant though. She had become one of those few allowed to befriend him, and she'd thrown it in his face.

He didn't let her apologise. "Don't do it again."

"Never. Promise." She replied quickly, holding out her hand to him, her little finger pointed up while the rest curled. He stared at it, then looked at her. She smiled and took his hand in her spare, then wrapped his little finger around hers. "It means I pinky-promise you. It's a promise you can never break."

He chuckled, surprised how much his forgiveness had cheered her up. She giggled weakly and pulled at her finger so their connection parted, and then continued to walk, just catching up to Cynthia, who smiled gently at her.

If Dawn was honest with herself, her exterior was smiling back, but inside, her resolve was crumpling. No amount of forgiveness from Paul was going to take her mind away from the events of the past 24 hours. If it wasn't for Cynthia's words about being strong for Paul, she would have curled up in a ball by now and waited to lose her mind.

They were shown to separate rooms, and told to rest. After all, neither had slept properly for at least two days. Dawn settled into the bed, curling up to warm herself up, and finally, tears were able to fall freely. She did not sob, she made no noise. Mourning would not help her, but it was a start. She did not know these people, victims to an unavoidable death. She could not mourn without faces to remember them with.

A hand came down on her shoulder, and she flinched quickly, having had her eyes shut tightly. She instantly recognised the figure above her and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"I knew you weren't alright." He told her, a subtle hint of victory in his tone, as if he were pleased he managed to read her pain.

She looked away, wrapping an arm around the other. "Sorry..." She mumbled, unable to think of anything else to say.

"For showing weakness?" He sounded confused, and even he noticed the irony in his question after. Of course she'd be ashamed to show weakness in front of him, the one person who openly despised any signs. He defended himself quickly; "You have had a rough day, you're only human."

"You've had a rough day..." She said childishly, envying his poise and level-headedness. Curse her femininity.

"Ahh..." He snorted. "I don't have tear ducts."

She laughed once, but she couldn't help but fall back into her sombre mood. Tentatively, he reached out and placed a finger on her cheek. At first she winced away from the pressure he was applying, but he softened and carefully wiped under one eye. She quickly did the other herself in fear of him poking her eyeball out. A small smile graced her lips appreciatively, and she put her hand over his where it rested on her shoulder. He seemed a little uncomfortable, but reluctant to pull away. Going with her instincts, she placed her forehead onto his shoulder, breathing in the scent of his freshly cleaned body. He smelt of lemon and other citrus fruits.

"All those people." She whispered, her thoughts never far from the disaster.

Suddenly, he was moving, as if her words had stirred him. The hand that had been on her shoulder moved around her back to keep her from sitting up. His legs that had been dangling at an awkward angle off the bed propped up either side of her, and his back lay against the wall. With the arm he had around her, he guided her to sit with him, and she awkwardly curled up against him, gingerly placing her head on his shoulder again. He inhaled slowly, and with the exhale, both of them relaxed into the embrace. He felt her whimper, desperately holding back her emotions, and his arm tightened.

It felt so wrong, but so beautifully right. He should not be there, in her bedroom, cradling her so. They'd barely became friends, and he doubted she'd ever shared this closeness with Ash even after years of travelling with him. But something purred inside him, delighted he'd managed something Ash couldn't achieve. Primal instinct sending shocks of excitement through his finger tips that traced and burned along her skin.

So wrong, he had not been brought up that way.

Her body shook, and she coiled into him tighter. She didn't question their closeness. They'd been through a near-death experience together. It was natural to bond after surviving such an ordeal. But it was Paul, he'd pulled her to sit like this, he wasn't showing any signs of being uncomfortable with her. He was surprisingly relaxed, no tension in his body, his arms wrapped firmly around her with no hesitation of how they rubbed her arms. Even his head had slowly dropped to relax on top of her own. She could feel him sometimes lift his head ever so slightly, bobbing between slumber and reality, but they became less frequent, then stopped altogether. His breathing deepened, and she could hear his breath clicking deep in his throat, creating a slight, low grumble every so often.

She couldn't feel alone when she was so close to him. All fears were held away from her while his arms protected her. She was no longer cold while her body pressed against his.

Within minutes of Paul drifting to sleep, she did not fight to follow suit.

* * *

><p><strong>Inspired by <em>Dare To Believe <em>by_ Boyce Avenue._**

**Hope you enjoyed it. And YAY! 100 reviews last chapter. Thank you so so much. I love each and every one of you who take the time to talk to me. I love hearing from you and knowing what I'm doing is making you happy. **


	14. Everything

**Chapter** **Thirteen**  
><em>Everything<em>

* * *

><p>Having slept since the late afternoon, Dawn found herself stirring in the early hours of the morning. She froze at the feeling of someone's arm around her, but it wasn't agressive. In fact, the arm was limp and unmoving. She opened her eyes and found her cheek was pressed up against the chest of the person who was holding her. Slowly, she looked up, and the pale moonlight cast a silver glow across Paul's sleeping face. In the strange light, he had no colouring, even his hair looked grey. His face was peaceful, but forever graced with an ever-lasting frown. His lips had puckered into an 'O' shape, and when he breathed in through his nose his head would subsequentally tip back slightly. It was perhaps the first time Dawn had ever found him endearing, and probably the only time Paul ever was.<p>

As she lifted her head off him, his lungs used the absense of her weight as a chance to inhale deeply, and his arms tensed ready to stretch. He yawned silently, all his limbs unfolding and his back arching so Dawn had to sit up.

Suddenly aware somebody was with him, his eyes blearily searched in the dim lighting. She smiled weakly, the only thing she was able to saw was a feeble; "Hey."

He coughed a little and rubbed his eyes, managing a quick grumble in reply. It only made her smile again.

"How are you feeling?" She whispered, aware Cynthia was somewhere in the villa too.

He dropped his hand across his stomach and looked at her as he assessed himself. Then winced as he registered some pain. "My neck kills."

She shuffled away quickly; "I'm sorry, you slept like that all night."

He shook his head, then wished he hadn't. "No... Ugh... It's fine." Still, he sat upright and rolled his head gently, rubbing the back of his neck and cringing as he coaxed the joint to pop. Relief swept through him at the distinct clicking sound, and when he let go, already he could feel the pain washing away. When he looked up, Dawn was staring in horror.

"What?"

"That's disgusting." She muttered, wrinkling her nose.

"It was hurting." He protested.

"You shouldn't force it though." She pulled a face.

"What, like this?" He made a point by balling a fist with one hand and then crunching his knuckles with his other hand to make each of them pop. Dawn recoiled at the noise, then slapped his hands.

"Don't!" She hissed, it only made him chuckle again, though the slap smarted for a few seconds.

They fell silent for a second, neither sure what to say now the formalities had passed. Dawn looked to her hands uneasily, and twiddled her fingers shyly.

"I uhh... Thanks for... Looking after me." She told him, thankful the light wouldn't reveal the heat tinging at her cheeks at the thought of spending a night in Paul's arms.

She peeked up at him to see his reaction, and he was also uneasy about it. His hand quickly went up to behind his head as he scratched it, ruffling his hair in an unintentionally cute way. "Don't mention it."

"I never thought..." She paused, looking down again as she struggled to find the confidence to speak her mind. "I didn't think you were..."

"Soft?" He suggested. She laughed, pulling her hair aside as she beamed. He watched her as she was unconsciously looking the most beautiful he'd ever seen her. So natural and happy, plus knowing she was really feeling down and still being able to smile like that filled him with awe. He wasn't sure what to do, how to act upon thinking that, so he settled for just watching her as she looked out the window.

"That wasn't the word I was looking for..." She mused, staring at the moon as if it would give her the right word. _Supportive? _No, she knew he was that when he'd taken her under his wing after Ash had left. _Caring? _He'd already proved that by making the effort to get her to her birthday party. This night, he'd known she would need support and care instinctively.

"Understanding." She decided, looking at him. "You knew I'd need help. Thank you."

His mouth opened and closed as if the words he wished to say were muted, he had to clear his throat before he could reply. "If I'm honest, yes I was checking up on you, but..." He drifted off, frowning harder. She waited, tilting her head so she was in his eyeline. So he could see she was expecting him to continue.

He couldn't say it. His trust in her may have started to rebuild, but the words he wanted to say were horrifying, like he was admitting all his life he'd been wrong.

"But what, Paul?" She pressed, a hand placed onto his upper arm. He looked down at it, then up at her. If he couldn't answer truthfully now, he never would.

"I... Needed you too." He stammered out, feeling terribly ashamed of himself for allowing such ridiculous weakness.

She gasped slightly in a shock, her spare hand reflexively flying over her mouth to stop it. Of all the things, she had not expected him to say that in a million years. Still, for some reason, she knew exactly how to respond; the same way he had. She reached for him, one arm holding his head, the other one reaching around his back as she pulled his head against her shoulder. He stiffened quickly, unsure of her actions, but she was completely certain. She held him firmly, placing her mouth close to his ear.

"You don't have to be strong all the time anymore." She told him so quietly it could barely be called a whisper. "I'm here for you now."

The words took a few moments to sink in, and whilst every instinct in his body begged for him to shove her away and find his comfort zone of being strong and independant again, his mind desperately wanted to succumb to her hold. After internal conflict, his mind won over, and his body melted into hers, arms wrapping under her shoulders and clucting her shoulder blades, hair weaving around his fingers. He inhaled shakily, and exhaled in one big rush, hoping she'd never let him go.

The honour she felt from being the one person Paul felt comfortable with to talk to was overwhelmingly beautiful, that tears were streaming down her face within seconds. She squeezed her eyes tight, and clutched him harder.

"Talk to me." She begged, only pulling away to hold his face. She wanted to see him, read his every expression. He frowned and looked to the floor, though from the angle she held his face, all he could see was his cheeks and her fingers.

"I don't know what to say." He answered honestly, looking up to her with pleading eyes. "Ask me questions."

She nodded, realising he would need help to speak his heart seeing how he did it so little. "Were you afraid?"

"Yes." He said quickly.

"Of?"

It took a few moments more. "Death. Of you, of me not being able to protect you."

"Me too." She confessed, hoping sharing her own thoughts would help him. Her hands ran down to his and they watched as she began asking more questions. "Are you afraid now?"

He paused, stumped. He wasn't really sure. It was such a confusing feeling he had at that moment in time. Everything felt so jumbled. "I think so."

"Does talking to me like this scare you?"

"Definitely." He said without a thought. They chuckled together at how ironic this all was. Paul, confessing his feelings like a girl. He was ridiculously out of character, and he was so embarrassed of it. Despite it all though, he was able to live with it, because he trusted her. She would not laugh, and tell everyone. He had full confidence that his words would never be repeated after this. He looked up from their hands to notice she'd been watching him. By the look in her eye, she'd understood everything he'd just thought about just by watching.

"Thanks." He mumbled, unable to break eye contact. They were frozen there, like time had no meaning any longer.

She smiled, blinking through the tears so she could see his face clearer. "Any time."

The moment would have been so perfect. His hands pulled her closer, and she did not resist in leaning toward him. But right at the last moment, his arms looped around her again, reducing what could have been into another hug. He cringed at the anti-climax of it all, but he could only push himself so far in one day. To have been _that _cliche would have reduced him to a complete romantic idiot.

He knew he'd regret it later. He already was.


	15. Feels Right

**Chapter Fourteen  
><strong>_Feels Right_

* * *

><p>With Paul's concussion almost completely gone, the doctors had given him the okay to continue on his travels. They had considered it for a while, and concluded that just sitting to watch as emergency rescue teams scoured the shores and seas for survivors was not helping anybody. Paul had also come to his own conclusion that every time the teams came back empty handed, Dawn turned a little paler. These times were becoming more and more frequent.<p>

"I think it's time we leave." He muttered one morning over breakfast. He looked up at Cynthia, who was looking straight back at him, and then pointedly glanced at Dawn, who was distracted by something in her bowl.

"If you think that's best." The Champion replied, smiling sweetly. It was inspiring to see how much he had grown since their first meeting, and not just physically. True, he'd almost reached her over-average-for-a-female height, and he'd lost the childish roundness in his face almost completely, but he was also acting like the man he was becoming.

He nodded back to her, and stood. Dawn started at his sudden movement, and then blushed at her stupidity. He made no comment, leaving to pack without another word.

Cynthia placed down her mug and looked Dawn in the eye. "Are you alright?"

It took a second of composure, but Dawn smiled back. "I will be."

The blonde studied her face for any signs of doubt, but settled with the smile Dawn was giving. She nodded and grabbed a pen and paper. "If you need to talk to me, here's my number."

"Thanks, Cynthia, you've been a big help." Dawn replied, looking at the paper.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't give that out to anyone, it's my private number." She winked and nudged Dawn gently, and the two giggled. With another tap, Dawn was out of her seat. "Go on, you should pack. Don't keep Paul waiting."

"No, of course not." Dawn grinned, hurrying up the stairs to do as she was told.

During their time staying at Cynthia's, she and Paul had simply fallen into a routine when it came to sleeping arrangements. Seeing how neither could sleep without the company of the other at such a traumatic time, they had decided to move into the same room. Paul's allocated bedroom had a king sized bed, which was more than enough, by the way Dawn curled around herself and Paul starmie-d. They were dealing with their muddled thoughts differently; Dawn slept soundly at night, but only after a day of exhausting herself with distractions. Paul kept himself awake at night, thoughts plaguing him in the darkness until his tiredness consumed him, and even then the sleep was restless.

Dawn glanced at his tired eyes, rimmed with dark shadows and slightly bloodshot. He yawned frequently, and she could tell when she spoke to him that he struggled to focus.

"Paul, maybe we should stay a while longer. I don't think you're up to i-"

"I'm fine. I need to get away from this place." He insisted, then looked up from his packing. "So do you."

She bit her lip. It was true that her worries weren't going anywhere while she wasn't either. She would endure it if it meant Paul could get some proper sleep though. She pressed the issue further, but to no avail.

They had decided that whilst they were there, they could take a look around Unova. Cynthia had told them about all the attractions that the region had to offer, and had given them a map that would lead them to Castelia city, where the docks were. Both Reggie and Johanna had been informed, and after relentless fuss from both of them, the journey was planned and sorted.

"Ready?" Paul asked, slinging his new pack over his shoulder. There was quite a lot of stuff they'd had to repurchase after the disaster, to their disdain.

"Just gotta collect my pokemon." She replied, pulling her own pack around her waist.

"Me too." He said, holding the door open for her. She smiled and trotted down the stairs. Cynthia glanced up at her arrival, then pointed to the counter where all of their pokeballs had been collected and piled up. Dawn recognised hers with ease and pinned them onto the belt of her waist bag.

The blond haired champion smiled as she watched Dawn finish getting ready. "You call me if you need help, or if you're lost. Okay?"

"Yes, thank you Cynthia, for everything." The younger girl smiled gratefully, and threw her arms around the Champion's waist.

Paul coughed, and held out a hand. "Thank you for the hospitality, especially at such short notice."

"You're welcome, of course."

With formalities and farewells completed, the two set off, Dawn waving until they disappeared down the route Cynthia had directed them in. She pulled out the map, and stared at it intently.

"The White Forest?"

"It'll take us to Black City, where we can stay the night." Paul explained, having already studied the map and memorised the journey they had to make.

Dawn nodded, running her finger along the path and glancing in front of her. "How long will it take?"

"A few hours, maybe more if we take a break." He replied monotonously, then perked a brow. "Why?"

She shrugged back at him. "I was just wondering. Do you think there will be any wild pokemon to catch?" Her eyes sparkled at the thought.

"Probably, we are in the wilderness." He scoffed sarcastically, only to receive a roll of the eyes from the coordinator.

She chose to ignore him, and set off on a sprint. "I wonder what kinds are out here?" She yelled over her shoulder, beckoning for him to follow at the same speed.

He sighed, shaking his head and continuing at his own pace for a little while. She wasn't running very fast, he knew she could go a lot faster, but there was an excited spring in her step that he hadn't seen in a few days. She stumbled to a stop and spun to face him, her hands on her hips impatiently. Then all of a sudden, her focus was above him, and she blinked with surprise. He turned, hoping to see what had captured her attention and shocked her so, but whatever it was had already disappeared, or never existed in the first place.

He turned and looked back to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing... I-" She paused, her eyes scanning around quickly and then focussing back on him. "I must be seeing things."

He frowned, questioning her stamina. "Do you need a break already?"

"No!" She protested, slapping her hands on her hips. "I'm a traveller too, you know. I can walk for miles without getting tired whilst carrying two pokemon!"

He shrugged, not questioning her further, and instead began to walk again. She kept glancing over their shoulders once in a while, and every time she would turn back with a frown on her face deeper than the last.

"What's wrong?" He repeated, this time more demanding.

She stopped walking and looked at the ground. "Ever get the feeling we're being watched?"

He paused, letting his intuition monitor his surroundings. "Not right now, no."

Her brow tightened, and looked around. "I do, right now."

"You're tired." He suggested, "maybe we should take five."

"I'm not tired!" She insisted, beginning to walk again.

He pursed his lips, assessing her. Her body was not slouching, and she didn't shift her weight restlessly. Her eyes were alert and her smile did not falter. It looked like she wouldn't ever tire. When she realised he was done with pressing a break, she giggled, turned and continued to skip.

* * *

><p>The forest lived up to its name, they realised, as the tree trunks were a strange white colour that contrasted beautifully with their luscious green leaves.<p>

"It's so quiet in here..." She muttered quietly, but despite how calm her voice was, she couldn't help but notice her hairs were standing on end. She placed her arms around her, but she was warm, it wasn't temperature that was giving her goosebumps. She glanced up to see Paul had walked on ahead, and with her intuition bugging her, she hurried after him.

"Hey Paul..." She breathed, glancing over her shoulder and then around him as they walked. She could see him staring at her curiously, so she continued to talk. "Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?"

"You just said it's quite here, can you hear anybody else?" He shook his head and pushed her gently away from him as she was trying to cling to him for comfort.

She pouted, "It might not be a person."

"Why would a pokemon be following us?" He sighed.

"There are many reasons!" She hissed as ideas ran through her head. "Maybe... Maybe we're not supposed to be in here."

"Or maybe you're being paranoid."

She huffed, folding her arms. This definitely wasn't paranoia. She wheeled around, walking backwards as she scanned the area thoroughly.

All of a sudden, a strange looking pokemon flashed in front of her, causing her to squeal and stumble back over a root of a tree. She scrambled backwards and onto her hands and knees to get up and stand, realising her stupidity of being frightened by a small pokemon. Paul passed her suddenly, approaching the pokemon whilst pointing his black pokedex at it.

"Pokemon Unknown." It spoke back to him, and repeated itself when he shook it and jabbed at buttons.

Dawn smiled, crouching at Paul's side and gesturing to the pokemon. "Hello, I'm Dawn, who are you?"

"Mela..." It chimed beautifully, taking a step forward curiously as it eyed Dawn. "Meloetta."

"Never heard of it." Paul muttered, only to be shushed by Dawn. He glared at her, but she did not see.

"We won't hurt you, are you alone?" She asked the foreign pokemon, smiling as sweetly as she could.

Paul watched in surprise as the pokemon took to Dawn immediately. He'd never seen this sort of approach to a wild pokemon before, and it was shockingly working. The Meloetta skipped toward her, taking her outstretched hand and nodding gently.

"Would you like to come with us? We can be your friends." She asked tentatively, though she didn't need to be gentle around the topic, the pokemon seemed delighted to accompany them.

"Okay!" Dawn grinned as she took the small pokemon in her arms and stood up. "This is my friend Paul, and he can be your friend too if you want."

Meloetta chimed its name and stretched out an arm, to which Paul simply looked at.

"He's a little grumpy, but he's alright really." Dawn stage-whispered, causing the pokemon to giggle.

"Grumpy?" He grunted, trying to hide that he was offended.

"Well you're not exactly the most friendly of people, are you?" She said lightly, still fussing over the pokemon in her arms.

"You don't even know anything about that pokemon, it could be owned by somebody and you're stealing it." He scoffed and then continued; "it could turn out to be... Mischievous."

Meloetta froze in Dawn's arms, and then suddenly struggled to be free.

"See!" Dawn yelled; "You've offended it! Meloetta! Come back!" She took off running after the pokemon she'd only just met.

"No pokemon could be anywhere near as much trouble as that girl." He huffed, and not wanting to lose her, Paul ran too.

As he was running, he suddenly heard a loud squeal that distinctively belonged to Dawn, and it made him push his legs faster. It wasn't the kind of squeal he was used to, it was a frightened one, one that set him on edge. Fumbling through his pockets as he ran, he found the pokeball he wanted and then skidded to a halt when he spotted Dawn on the floor with Meloetta in her arms. The small green and black pokemon was not the reason for Dawn's panicked cry, as it was cowering into her arms as Dawn curled around the pokemon protectively. He looked up to see a trio of people, their predominantly shades of red, and their uniforms strangely resembling suits of medieval armour. What struck him the most was their aggressive demeanour toward Dawn.

"Give us the pokemon!" The one yelled, his voice threatening. A purple cat-like pokemon stepped from his side, slowly advancing on Dawn, which made Paul step forward from his hiding at release his pokemon.

"Back off." Paul spat, his Honchkrow at his side. It flexed its claws into the air, and glared menacingly at the foreign pokemon, who hissed right back.

"This doesn't concern you, little boy, so run along before we send you running!" The only woman of the trio barked roughly. Neither Paul or Honchkrow stirred.

The third and final member of the trio, who stood by a strange looking pokemon not dissimilar to a Croconaw finally spoke up. "He's not budging, I say we take them both out." He chuckled darkly, taking a step forward.

The first man nodded, but before he could command his pokemon, Paul had already stepped in. "Haze, quick!"

Without hesitating, Honchkrow kicked up a huge amount of smoke that filled the immediate area in seconds. Paul had already begun to hurry to Dawn's side, and when he found her he grabbed whatever he found first and yanked her up to stand. She pulled his hand off her arm and instead held it with her own hand and pushed him. "Go!" She coughed, her voice muffled by what he assumed was her scarf. With his spare hand, he cover his own mouth and began to run further into the haze, deciding to run toward the enemy than away as they would naturally expect. They seemed to have split up anyway, as they didn't run into any of them, and they couldn't see them even as they left the haze.

Paul checked over Dawn quickly, who wasn't hurt other then a scrape on her knee, and Meloetta was in her spare arm. He nodded, and then set off at a run.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally some action! And I decided to leave it there. Sorry I've been gone so long. 1. I've had way too many events to have concentrated on this much. 2. When I did have chance, I've had ridiculous writer's block.<strong>

**But I'm back so... WOO!**


	16. Shaded

"Get back here!"

The bellow that ripped through the trees only pushed them to run faster, and even over their heavy breathing Paul could hear the worried whine that escaped Dawn's lips.

"Come on." He huffed, "We're losing them."

Meloetta nuzzled her head into Dawn's shoulder, and it made her push her feet harder. The trees began to thin, and sunlight was seeping in to the floor.

"We need somewhere to hide... We can't go out in the open while they're around." Paul muttered.

"There's nowhere to-" Having been searching frantically for a hiding place, Dawn conveniently found one by tripping against a tree root and into the bushes which surrounded it. She let out a little squeal, instinctively catching herself before she landed on Meloetta who had been in her arms, but ended up cutting the palms of her hands again.

Suddenly, Paul was there at her side, crouched over her and tucking her feet into the plants so she wouldn't be seen.

"What are you-"

"Shh!"

She silenced herself quickly, biting down on her bottom lip as she listened to the stomping feet that were rushing by. It was almost impossible to keep the whimper rising in her throat down, but a hand found hers, and she found Meloetta was trying to calm her down.

"They're not far from here..." A low growl echoed through the trees. "I heard them."

Dawn looked straight to Paul with frightened eyes, and even he didn't look as calm as usual. These people were frightening and unknown. Neither of them knew what they were up against. His hand twitched nervously to his belt, wondering how powerful these people were. She stopped him before he made up his mind though, shaking her head in warning.

"Search everywhere!"

Footsteps grew quieter as the distance between them grew larger, and Paul visibly relaxed, and slumped to sit down next to Dawn.

"What should we do?" She breathed.

He didn't reply for a moment as he dared a look through the bushes and then turned back to her. "We wait until they think we've got away. Then we get away."

She nodded, quietly shuffling to sit comfortably against the tree. Meloetta shuddered into her, and she clutched the terrified pokemon tighter.

"What could they possibly want with you?" She asked it quietly, then looked to Paul to see if he had an answer. He shrugged and looked at the small creature, assessing it for possible information on what it was. Instead, though, he spotted Dawn's sliced up palms.

"Sit up." He demanded, putting a hand behind her back to forced her to do as she was told. She shuffled up, hissing when he took her hands to examine them, and then watched as he began rummaging through his new backpack. He pulled out a first aid box, and from that a few packets. Meloetta - who was sat in Dawn's lap - watched with deep curiosity as he went through the basic procedures of cleaning out the wound, applying a salve, and then finally bandaging them up tightly to stop the bleeding.

All the while, Dawn watched him work, astonished by how tender and careful he was with her. The way his frown twitched as he through through the process, and his lips pursed, or he would bite onto the bottom one. His skin was rough from the travelling he had done, and his tendons rippled with strength, yet he had the finesse and gentleness of father with his child. All of it was alluring to her, and she was sufficiently distracted to the job he was working on.

"There." He said after a few minutes, then looked up to notice she was staring. It was a little unnerving, but he was never one to be submissive and look away.

She smiled, looking down at her hands. All the blood and grit had been removed, and the cuts she could feel tingling with cleanliness were hidden under soft white bandage. "Thank you."

He nodded, but said nothing.

"Should we get moving yet?" She muttered, straining to hear but failing to pick up on anything other than Paul and Meloetta's breathing.

"No." He breathed, then turned to look at her. "We should wait for a little while longer."

She pursed her lips, unable to keep eye contact with him for very long.

What was making her so shy? She'd known for a while that a crush was beginning to develop, but it didn't feel like that anymore. It was like pulling through the ferry disaster together had somehow bonded them in a way nobody else could understand, no one would know how weak and vulnerable they'd felt. They were the only people who fully understood each other and what they were going through. She didn't know him fully, but knew the changes in him well enough that they were thinking similarly.

"Paul, I-"

"We should get moving now." He said, thrusting Dawn's pack toward her. Something had disturbed him, and considering that she hadn't uttered a word, it was his own thoughts that had made him so anxious to stand.

Nodding, she swung the bag over her shoulder, and climbed into a crouch. Before she could stand though, a pair of hands had grasped onto her upper arms. It took her a moment to realise they weren't Paul's hands, and another moment for her to cry out in alarm as she was ripped up from the brush.

Shaking her head, she looked to see Paul was in a similar predicament, glaring at one of his captors. She glanced over her shoulder to see she only had one person holding her. She was at the most advantage between them. Before he could get a decent hold on her, she lashed a leg at one of Paul's guards and throwing him onto his back. Paul had not let this go unnoticed and slammed his side into the other guard, throwing him back as well. It gave him enough time to release his Electivire, who crackled fiercely. He'd questioned if he could take on three of these people, but now he was going to put it to the test.

As the two disgruntled guards scrambled up and readied themselves for a battle, the third called their attention, and they looked to see their next predicament.

"Give us the pokemon, and I won't drop her."

Dawn shot a glare at Paul, though her eyes were too wide with fear to warn him not to play with this deal. She glanced over her shoulder, looking down at the large cliff edge that she teetered upon, and at the bottom was a gushing river. She would not die, but she didn't know what else was along the river when she got pulled away by the current.

"Don't test my patience, boy! Give me the pokemon!"

It suddenly occurred to Paul that Meloetta was nowhere to be seen. He paled at the thought. These people didn't look like the type to be fair, if Meloetta wasn't there, it was doubtful they would pull Dawn back up and let them go quietly.

"Now!" He barked, and Electivire didn't not need more of a command. With its two dexterous tails, it lashed out as his two guards who had been inching closer to him, and they yelped in pain as the static electricity ran through their body.

"Give me her back." He demanded, taking a step forward. The guard holding Dawn dangled her closer over the edge. She let out an unsteady groan as she tried to remain calm. Realising they were at a stalemate, there was only one thing she could do. With surprising quickness, she grasped the guard's arm and rocked her weight backwards, throwing them both over the edge. She briefly heard Paul shout her name, but she closed her eyes, righted herself so she could dive properly and hit the water.

Panic stricken, Paul began running in the direction the current would take her. He begged that there wouldn't be some cliché waterfall nearby, but he knew not to keep his hopes up. Suddenly, Electivire scooped him up and leapt over the edge, strong fingers lashing into the cliff edge and carefully lowering them both down. With a few moments to think, he scanned for Dawn, and spotted her as she surfaced, unconscious.

Electivire would not be able to hit the water, it wouldn't be the best to electrocute everything in direct vicinity just for the extra muscle. As they came closer to the surface of the rushing water, he returned the pokemon and plummeted the rest of the way, landing feet first.

Within seconds, he managed to catch up to Dawn, and he knew instinctively to cup his hand under her chin to ensure her breathing. Unable to swim very well now he was keeping two bodies afloat, he just about managed to navigate them to the edge of the other bank. With one arm around Dawn's waist, he clutched the bank with the other. The pull was not painful, but exhausting him quickly, and he couldn't muster the strength to haul them both out. He gritted his teeth and managed to put his upper body onto the bank, giving him a little more leverage with Dawn, but suddenly she didn't weigh anything. Neither did he. They were being lifted from the water without any hands or other physical strength.

As he was lowered back onto the soft grass, he looked around wildly and Meloetta appeared at his side.

He sighed with relief. "Thanks."

It grinned at him and patted his shoulder, then hurried over to Dawn. He followed suit, and immediately felt for a pulse. It was thrumming wildly, just like his own. Adrenaline, that was a good sign. He ran through the procedures he'd learnt in basic first aid, and knew he needed to check her breathing. This was not as strong as her pulse. He could hear her rasping for breath, the rattle of water in her throat.

Trying to remain calm, he sat her up and patted her back in an attempt to coax her to cough, but she didn't respond, and simply slumped into him.

"C'mon Dawn." He muttered, lying her back down and tilting her head back. It wasn't like he could help her breath, she'd inhaled water and it needed to come up.

He quickly placed his hands onto her chest and pushed down once. Twice. He counted to five before she suddenly responded, water gushing up out of her mouth in a spray and causing her to reflexively roll onto her hands and knees so the water was out of her mouth. She coughed violently, her ragged breaths frightening both of them. Unsure of what to do, Paul placed a hand between her shoulder blades and rubbed, and though it did little to soothe the inside of her burning throat, she felt comforted that she was with him.

"I wish you wouldn't rush to conclusions, Dawn." He scolded her lightly, exasperated by her rash nature. He guessed it was a trait she had learned from her rather irrational friend.

She ignored his annoyance, knowing there had only been one way out for her, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Where is he?" She asked breathlessly, her shoulders still heaving with her pants to draw in oxygen.

Paul shrugged, it hadn't even crossed his mind, he'd been a little too focussed on helping her. He glanced at the river, but there was nothing in the waters that was out of the ordinary. Up above, he could see the two other strange trainers were pointing at them from the cliff side, deciding whether to pursue or find their friend. Eventually, their loyalty to their partner won over, and they disappeared.

"Come on, we need to disappear now before they come back." Dawn muttered, having observed the same thing.

Paul grunted in agreement, and looped an arm under her arm and across her shoulder blades. He couldn't help but note how easily his hand rested against her ribcage, and how comfortable she was to let him.

Shaking his head and inhaling sharply, he hoisted her up to stand and let her test being up on her feet again. She staggered as the blood rushed back down her body, but then smiled and nodded at him.

The three of them set off in the opposite direction in an attempt to outrun them, and Dawn denied them any stops until they were dragging their feet. Even then, it was only when Meloetta slumped onto her shoulder and muttered a weak cry did she give in and sat against a fallen log they'd just passed.

Paul collapsed down beside her and rested his elbows on his knees. The walk had taken what little energy he'd had left from the unplanned swim and escape in the day, his head hung limply forward. A hand came down on his neck, and applied pressure in exactly the right spot. The sharp pain that lanced down his spine caused him to hiss, but the immediate relief after was enough to let her continue.

"How many knots, Paul?" She gasped, though she knew she shouldn't be surprised. He was naturally the kind to harbour pent up stress, and the past couple of weeks was enough to knot up anybody's shoulders.

A low, guttural moan slipped through his throat as she applied her other hand, and she smiled, pleased that she could pay him back a little for all he'd done for her today. Ash used to beg for massages after a gym battle, and even Brock agreed she was good. She put it down to being a coordinator, she had to learn to pamper her pokemon before a contest, and anybody who could massage a Mamoswine had to be pretty decent.

She lost track of time, and hadn't noticed how Paul had slumped even further than before until she realised she was holding him up as she pinched at his muscles. She giggled silently, and lifted him to lie against her, letting his head loll onto her shoulder. His breathing was deep and quiet, brushing against her ear comfortingly. Reaching for her bag, she gestured for Meloetta to bring her sleeping bag, and the small pokemon wafted it to land on them both, then settled onto Dawn's lap.

Listening to Paul's slumber, it was easy to drift into her own, and she settled her head on the top of his, the last thing she remembered being inhaling his earthy smell...


	17. Perspective

**Chapter** **16**  
><em>Perspective.<em>

It had been the first night for him where he woke up and felt rested. Maybe it was exhaustion finally catching up on him. Maybe it was being in the open air after so long. However, as he opened his eyes, it took him a moment to consider why he was curled over sideways. He never slept on his side.

Then the sound of breathing met his ear, but it was such a familiar sound to him that he was not alerted by it. Dawn had slept near him for a while, but hadn't been quite this close to him since the first night, which had been an accident.

Carefully, he sat up and noticed he had been lay against her. He didn't remember falling asleep at all, and they hadn't sat that way the evening before. Shrugging it off, he stood and wandered to find a water source. They'd walked far too far away to reach the river again, but if his memory served him well enough, he knew there were several streams running throughout the forest.

The chill of the morning gripped him within minutes, and he'd wished he'd stayed where he was, but something had moved him quickly away the moment he realised how he'd slept all night.

Had Dawn put him there? He definitely sat down next to her, not vice versa. So did that mean he'd fallen onto her? He'd been so careful since that first night. He didn't want to cross a line.

He ran through the possibilities. If Dawn had pulled him in, it would have been out of kindness. Or guilt. He knew the argument in Sinnoh still plagued her mind. If he fell into her, it most definitely wasn't conscious. So subconscious, what did that say? He didn't want to think about it. What if it wasn't in any part of his conscience at all? He could have accidentally slumped.

Yes. That's what it was. An accident, or some instinct to share body heat in the cold outdoors.

He stepped in water before he realised he'd found it. Grunting in disapproval, he began filling their canteens and sat at the stream's edge.

"Melaa?"

Having been so absorbed in his job, he had not expected company, so he jumped when the tiny little voice made itself apparent. He turned to see Meloetta floating behind a nearby tree and peeking around it. He snorted and turned back to the stream.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

The small pokemon grumbled its name in its tuneful tone. It appeared at his side and sat down.

"Why have you followed me?" He asked, looking down at it. It shrugged and looked back up at him with wide eyes. "Perhaps it's just as well." He added. "I can keep an eye on you then, in case they come looking for you again."

Meloetta shuddered and cowered into his side. He blinked in surprise, no pokemon had ever acted like this around him before. Perhaps he'd never given them the chance to.

He had gone soft, surely.

But still, the small little pokemon was so vulnerable and frightened, he couldn't help but feel like a protector. It was almost an instinct, but also he'd followed Dawn's lead. He knew deep down that helping this pokemon would make her happy.

The distraction was soon forgotten though, torn through entirely with the shriek of pain that sounded like nothing he'd ever heard before, but somehow he knew it perfectly. He reacted faster than the pokemon, and they weaved back through the forest, abandoning the water he'd gone for.

His stomach twisted with unease, and adrenaline kicked in to make him run faster. _They've got her. _He growled inwardly. _They're going to hurt her. _The rage that ignited from the thought frightened him, but not as much as the thought of finding her injured, or worse.

He finally rounded the last set of trees that separated him from their camp, and the initial sight confused him. She huddled in the same place as where he left her, but nobody else was around her, provoking the scream that had definitely been hers. She turned at the sound of his heavy breathing, and let out a loud sob as she scrambled up to stand. He blinked rapidly, not ready for her as she tackled into him, letting out more cries and whimpers.

"What? What's wrong?" His voice had gone up several pitches, and was ragged from the sprint. His hands automatically settled onto her shoulder blades, noting how she quivered like a leaf in the wind. "Dawn?" He pressed, but she shook her head.

"You're here. You're here." She blubbered, tears soaking him as she clutched him closer.

"Of course I am, I went to fetch water." He stated, still not managing to piece everything together, confusion was still sweeping through his brain.

"I didn't know. I thought..." She hiccuped, unable to continue as she fell back into more sobs.

Fear still seeping from his veins like ice melting in the morning sun, there was still enough to leave him frozen in the situation. What could he do? He had no idea what was wrong, how to go about fixing it.

_Warmth. _His body complained, and he stiffly led her back to the camp, sitting them both down under the sleeping bag.

"What happened, Dawn?"

She blinked up at him and then looked away. "I had a dream... You... We were on the ferry... And then I woke up and..."

He wasn't so stupid to put two and two together. "You dreamt I died."

She nodded, weeping even more. "I couldn't save you."

He frowned even deeper than he had been before, and pulled her close again. "I'm fine. Except you nearly scared the life out of me when you screamed."

She sniffed. "Sorry."

"So you should be, I haven't ran so fast since PE at school!" He teased, nudging her slightly. She forced a smile, but the specifics of her dream had clearly haunted her. "I'm alright, Dawn. We got out."

"I know that now. I was confused and frightened when I woke up." She explained, and he nodded.

He wasn't sure what else to say. He'd assured her he was fine, and she'd done the same. She'd just had a nightmare. It was to be expected. She'd been holding herself together surprisingly well, he had to allow a few slip ups.

"Sorry." She muttered again. Unable to look him in the eye.

"Me too, I shouldn't have disappeared like that without telling you." He shrugged. He was so used to being self dependant, never having a travelling partner meant he never had to communicate his whereabouts. Dawn had never travelled alone, and had never not been at least aware of Ash or Brock nearby.

"Did you get water?" She asked, pulling away from him and glancing around.

He cursed, causing her to jump. "I left it by the stream."

She grinned, rolling her eyes. "That's okay, we can pick them up along the way."

As she stood and stretched, he eyed her carefully. "Are you sure you don't want a little bit longer to rest?"

"No, we should get moving, there's so much to see and I want to get my Togekiss back!" She explained, throwing his bag toward him, which he caught half heartedly.

They walked in silence until they reached the stream, and they only talked to confirm the direction they should be headed in. Dawn watched out of the corner of her eye, and couldn't help but wonder what Paul thought of her outburst. He hadn't seemed very sympathetic, but maybe she was comparing him to Ash's standard of sympathy. With Ash, he felt whatever pain she went through, it was a bond that only siblings should really have. Paul hadn't insulted her moment of weakness, which she knew wasn't beneath him to do so. He had held her when she ran to him, and she noted that immediate safety she felt when she was in his clutches. He didn't voice his sympathies the way Ash did, he simply showed it.

The way his frown was deeper now told her that he was deep in troubled thought. His bottom lip puckered slightly, and she would frequently spot them moving to his thoughts but making no sound.

If only he voiced his thoughts more often! It was so frustrating.

"What are you staring at me for?" He suddenly blurted, and he flushed at yet another verbal explosion.

She stuttered, her feet stumbling as her thoughts scattered everywhere. With no excuse or lie coming to her mind immediately, she went with the truth. "I was wondering what you were thinking."

He looked in her large, bewildered blue eyes, then snorted. "You and me both."

What did that mean? She sighed, exasperated. Did he have to speak in riddles? He was easier to read when silent, she decided.

"Mellaaa!" The pokemon crowed in delight, having flown ahead to see the new area. The two humans hurried to meet it and see what was so exciting, and a gasp that mirrored Meloetta perfectly escaped Dawn's lips.

"Nimbassa City." Paul announced.


	18. Island

**Chapter 17**

He sighed once again as he tried to keep up with her, he really wasn't in the mood for running, and there were too many people around to tether her by his side. Inwardly, though he loathe to admit it, he was glad the morning had taken a change for the better, and she was far too excited and in awe of the huge city to remember her abrupt and frightening awakening.

Cities weren't such a big thing for him. He'd grown up in one of the largest city of Sinnoh, and this one wasn't much bigger. He had to admit though, the architecture was spectacular, and startlingly colourful, in contrast to the monotonous greys of Veilstone. The people wore such extravagant clothing too, to the point where even Dawn looked a little dull in comparison. One thing that did stand out was their hair colour, and they were receiving a lot of stares. He looked around, and nobody in sight had hair colours other than blonde or brunette.

He felt his neck prickle from all the side glances and whispers. It was very clear they were foreign.

Giving the crowds little opportunity to look at him, he quickened his pace to catch up with Dawn. He found her around the corner of another building, her nose pressed against the glass of a shop as she peered in at the accessories.

"Look! It's so pretty!" She was pointing at a range of jewellery called the Gigalith Collection, and was mostly crystal based. He grunted to humour her, then took her arm and began steering her away.

"Whoa! What's the hurry, Paul?" She giggled, in too much of a good mood to let it dampen from his haste.

"I thought you wanted to get to the pokemon centre and find Togekiss?" He looked down at her, and once his words sunk in, he didn't need to tow her along any more.

"I've missed her so much!" Dawn grinned, taking off again to reunite with her pokemon.

He rolled his eyes, but took off at a sprint to catch her up, nonetheless.

* * *

><p>The reunion was long, and he'd actually dozed off for a little while, but they had to wait for their other pokemon to rest up anyway. The nurse Joy approached them with their trays and smiled weakly.<p>

"I'm so glad you two are okay, such an awful accident..." She told them quietly, her eyes glazing over.

"Did the Nurse Joy on the Ferry make it out okay?" Dawn asked tentatively, her hands distracting her as best possible by playing in Togekiss' fur.

Joy nodded. "Yes, though she broke her arm whilst evacuating the pokemon. Thankfully, there was a Wailmer in the pokeballs, and it carried her to safety."

"That's good. Imagine the loss if it hadn't have been for the Wailmer..." Dawn whispered, her eyes downcast, clearly thinking about the loss that had occurred anyway.

"Yes, it was a terrible shame. That Wailmer saved many lives, but many of the pokemon don't have trainers any longer." Nurse Joy sighed, pulling out a handkerchief and placing it over her mouth as she hurried away and let out a sob.

Whilst Paul felt the guilt immediately, he couldn't help but silently curse this Nurse Joy, who had flipped Dawn's mood yet again. She looked up at him and forced a smile, but it didn't fool him. She gave up when she realised this, and hung her head.

"Let's get out of here." He grumbled, lifting their bags and slinging hers toward her.

"Where to?"

Shrugging, he made his way for the door. Anywhere was better than the gloom of the pokemon centre. He could hear her walking behind him, her feet not as light as usual. They needed a distraction to ease the guilt away again, and his eye suddenly caught the perfect answer.

"Ferriswheel ride?" He offered, pointing to it, though it was fairly obvious to what he was referring. Glancing behind him, he could see it had been a good choice from the light that ignited in her eyes and yet another sudden change of pace.

The ticket price was extortionate, but it seemed priceless when they took off. Dawn's smile widened, her eyes as well. She released Piplup so he could see the spectacular view, Meloetta found a comfortable spot on her shoulder, and the carriage rocked as they came to a stop at the top.

"Wow..." She sighed in awe, then prized her gaze away to look over her shoulder. "Come and look, Paul!"

He crossed over to her and stood just behind her shoulder, looking out over the horizon of the foreign region. It was truly breathtaking, especially with the sun just beginning to hide itself, painting the sky a magnificent array of pinks and oranges.

"Perfect timing to get on." He muttered, and she nodded in agreement, too much in awe to think about voicing a reply. A flock of a native flying pokemon swept past their carriage in a neat 'V' formation, swooping into the trees surrounding the city for the night, probably only scattering to reach their nests. Paul's eyes trained on them until they disappeared, his mind running through its usual process of choosing its likely types, strengths and weakness... It was not until Dawn had stopped to notice and giggled did he look away from them and frown.

"What?"

"You, thinking about training all the time." She nudged him gently with her elbow to show she was only teasing him.

He snorted and wandered to the other side of the carriage. "Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Being a trainer..."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes of course, but do you ever just... Switch off, relax? Be yourself from time to time?"

He frowned and pursed his lips, unsure of what she meant. "I am myself."

She sighed and slumped into a chair. "I didn't mean it that way, I meant... Letting loose, having fun instead of working hard."

A small twitch played at his lips as he met her eye. "Let my hair down..."

"Yes exactly." She met his stare with a playful one of her own. When he didn't reply immediately, she looked away and locked the sunset away in her memory just before the wheel began to turn again.

"Let's have some fun tonight." She suggested, peeking over to him. He blinked. "Like what?"

She shrugged. "This city looks like it's full of stuff to do, we'll find something!"

Though inside he was tired and wanted to rest up so they could move on the next day, a small part of his mind insisted he went with his gut instinct, and that was demanding that he unwound a little before he exploded like a coiled up spring. He had taken on a lot of stress lately, and his battles had been delayed significantly... It also wouldn't hurt Dawn's mood, having her distracted until she wore herself out to oblivion for the night, which would probably be a better night's sleep for the both of them.

"Okay." He replied evenly, crossing his arms over his stomach and settling back into the chair. There was nothing left to see now they were on their way back down, but it would still be a while before they reached the bottom.

* * *

><p>Once the sun had hit it's horizon, night took over swiftly, and neon lights began to illuminate the streets instead. They followed several crowds without a clue of the destination. The paths became more cramped, and Dawn sidled up to Paul so as to know they weren't to lose each other.<p>

"What's going on?" She asked, but he knew as much as her, something big for such a huge crowd to gather. Then suddenly, balloons began scattering in the distance, and quiet music was slowly drifting in.

"A parade?" He guessed, pushing his way through to peer over the temporary fence that kept them off the road; the parade's path. Further down, he could see cars and pokemon steadily turning the corner, adorned with all sorts of bright decorations. A bunch of tiny black and yellow flying pokemon were hurrying along the front of the crowds, handing out floral garlands, then scurrying off to collect more when they ran out.

"Here, I got two!" Dawn giggled, placing one over Paul's head. He frowned, but her laughter stopped him from protesting. "It suits you!" She insisted, causing him to grimace even more. With little opportunity to voice his opinion, she had taken his hand and began pulling him further down the street to get a better view.

Large pokemon parade balloons began appearing, grounded by heavy looking pokemon that were native to Unova, and balletic pokemon not dissimilar to a Kirlia were dancing all around them.

The crowd began to babble with excitement as the music got louder, moving along steadily with the parade to take it all in, clearly trying to end up somewhere in the city. Dawn found herself brushed up with the people around her, and she didn't not fight them.

Paul, feeling the need to be ever vigilant with his fragile companion, trained an eye on her, pushing his way through the crowds to ensure she was still within arms reach. It wasn't until somebody tapped his shoulder did he look away to find a man dressed in a sparkling suit with a ruffled shirt and bowtie holding out a piece of string to him.

"For your lady friend." He said in a tuneful voice, grinning as he took in the look of horror on Paul's face as he politely took the pokeball balloon.

"Paul!"

If he hadn't have been listening for it, he never would have heard it in the thick chatter of the crowd. It was so distant, how had she gotten so far away so quickly?

"Dawn?" He barked, rising onto his tiptoes to see above the heads. It wasn't hard to spot blue hair in a sea of browns. She seemed to have spotted this as well and was grinning and beckoning to him to follow. With so much going on to look at, the crowds were hardly fazed by his pushing to make his way over to her.

Once within reach of her, she grabbed at his wrist and began tugging him to follow. "Come on! I heard two kids who live here in the city are going onto the rooftops, they said we'll see better up there and it's empty!"

He pursed his lips, but did nothing to stop her from following through with the plan.

"Where'd you get the cool balloon from?" She asked as they rose up the elevator.

He glanced up at it, then back down to her. "I don't want it." He grumbled.

Giggling as she took it, she nudged him playfully. "Cheer up a bit. It's just a parade."

"Mm..." He sighed. "I'm not a party person."

"You could have fooled me." She teased, but then stopped laughing when he frowned deeper. She slammed her hand onto the elevator buttons, and it halted momentarily until it was going back down again.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm starving, let's go get some food." She suggested, though her real motive was to make Paul feel more comfortable. She'd been selfish and running him around for her own enjoyment all day, and he hadn't moaned about it at all. She knew if she pointed this out though, he would be sure to insist on them staying until the parade ended.

* * *

><p>They'd found themselves at a fast food restaurant, one that had been seemingly empty for quite a while when the entertainment was outside. They sat in the far corner with a large tray full of food they could pick and choose at.<p>

"So, what's going to happen? Are we going to Kanto?" She asked whilst scooping up some ketchup onto a pinch of fries. He smirked at how she was so resolute in her use of 'we'. He couldn't put a word to it, but the thought filled him with a feeling of... happiness? Yes, he was happy she was intent on being his travelling partner, but it wasn't what he was after.

"I'd like to, but we may as well look around Unova while we're here." He shrugged, enjoying the way she lit up with excitement.

She polished off a burger, and then glanced up at him. "I feel like if we're going to be travel partners, we should get to know each other more."

His stomach clenched, what could she possibly want to know about him. Uneasiness swept through him. "Okay..." He said warily.

Ever theatrical, Dawn placed a finger to her chin as she pondered over what to ask him. "What..." She droned out the vowel, "...is your favourite colour?"

As quickly as the unease tightened into him, it slipped away with a chuckled. "That's what you want to know?"

"Yes!" She nodded indignantly.

He couldn't help but smirk at her childlike qualities, or maybe it was a girl thing he would never understand, but he still decided to humour her. "Green."

She blinked and nodded. "I might have guessed."

He frowned. "Oh?"

"You like the outdoors, away from cities. Where it's peaceful and quiet. Green reminds you of the wilderness, right?" She tilted her head, as a child would.

Struck by her clashing qualities of her naivety and her shrewd observation skills, they didn't make sense in the same one person. Yet she somehow embodied both, it was frightening how easily she read him when most people barely took the chance to try and make a conversation with him. It was with the head tilt and her blue orbs reading further than anyone had before that he realised that feeling he'd been looking for.

It not what she was giving him, but the feeling of loneliness that she was taking away.


	19. Followed

"Who's your favourite band?"

Paul sighed, this had been going on for nearly an hour, and she had been unstoppable. "Band?"

"I really like Rai-pop at the moment but I change my mind all the time, you know?" She rambled on, giving him a chance to rest. Surely she knew he wasn't much of a talker? Why was she insisting on this relentless interrogation?

"Paul?"

Another grumble rattled through his throat as he shot her a look that was mixed with both pleading and annoyance. She did not seem to notice, or care. She simply waited for his answer.

Thankfully, before he could make some harsh comment about how merciless she was, there was an uproar in the crowds that startled them both. They were all facing in one particular direction, and Paul could just see what they were looking at when he rose on his tiptoes above the crowd. Further down the massive park was a stage where a woman stood in silhouette, posing elegantly and for some reason making the crowd go wild.

"Who is it?" Dawn asked, having managed to catch a glimpse in the gaps of the crowd.

Paul shrugged, he could barely see himself, despite his height advantage.

The lights went up, and a strikingly beautiful blonde woman was revealed in a bizarre yellow outfit that the crowd apparently loved. Now that he could see her properly in the light, he knew exactly who she was.

"Elesa, the gym leader here."

Dawn's eyes widened. "Elesa, the supermodel?"

"Welcome!" Elesa's high pitched voice rang through the speakers like a bell. "It's so great to see you all here ready to party!"

The roar she received was startling, but Dawn couldn't help but grin with the atmosphere.

"Let the festival begin! Enjoy!"

And with that, fireworks began setting off behind her, and every building lit up in a fantastic array of colours, flickering methodically to make the city look like it was pulsing with energy. Neon signs came to life, and music began blasting its way over the crowds again. People began dancing where they stood, others took to the stalls all around, and some were chattering wildly about getting in line for the roller coasters.

Dawn looked to Paul, catching him mid-yawn. He stopped himself quickly and rolled his eyes. "Where do you want to go?"

"Candy floss!" She squealed, hurrying over to the nearest stall.

"Are you kidding me?" He huffed, shaking his head at the hyper active girl who had only just finished eating her body weight's worth of fast food. By the time he reached her, she was turning to hand him his own stick of cotton candy, most pointedly green in colour, which he knew instantly was because he'd told her he liked mint flavoured things.

Oddly touched by the gesture, he bit back his remark and took the candy off her with a mumbled thanks, then they strolled down the street that was now clearing as people made their way around the amusements.

"Mmm... Tastes good!" Dawn crowed with delight as she shovelled more food into her mouth. Though he had to admit, it wasn't very filling, but the sweetness was appealing.

"I know!" She suddenly exploded, tugging on his sleeve as if her outburst hadn't already gotten his attention. "We should go into the Battle subway!"

"Really?" He asked, perking up at the idea of actually getting to battle.

"Sure, we could go in as a doubles team!" She bounced around, toward the general direction of the subway.

The idea dimmed in his head, he'd never been one for tag battles, as he had found out a long while ago. Dawn seemed to remember it too, only in a much different light to him.

"You won your tag battles with Ash, and with me at your side, we can't lose!" She grinned, laughter breaking through her lips as she turned and began to skip instead of walk like a sane person.

What did he have to lose? He shrugged, it would be some practice for his neglected pokemon, he supposed.

* * *

><p>Having been the festival, the Battle Subway was pretty much empty. The only two people they happened to see were two twin brothers, who lit up as Dawn and Paul approached.<p>

"Welcome to the Battle Subway!" The brother in black coat smiled.

"I'm Emmett, and this is Ingo." The other brother said. "We're the Subway Bosses."

Dawn nodded and held her hand out as she introduced herself. "I'm Dawn!"

"Paul." Paul muttered, following suit and shaking the hand of the brother closest to him.

"We're from Sinnoh." Dawn added, her smile widening. It had been the first time she'd been able to say that, it made her feel so... peregrine. She'd never been able to include somebody else either, seeing how Ash and Brock had been from Kanto.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Ingo nodded, gesturing to the train that was pulled up at the station. "Shall we get straight to business?"

Emmett grinned. "We assumed you came for a battle, yes?"

The two challengers nodded, and they all climbed aboard.

"You might want to grab onto a hoop." Suggested Emmett, only to receive a chuckle from his brother.

Dawn shot a glance to Paul, who had apparently already decided who he was fighting with and hadn't bothered to tell her. However, she realised that he didn't have a lot of options. The majority of his pokemon were on the large side, too big to be of use in a tiny train cart. It would be pointless having a flying type when it couldn't fly, so that ruled Honchkrow out as well. That only really left-

"Golduck, standby!"

Pleased with her correct deductions, she sent out her choice for the match. "Quilava! Spotlight!"

Paul glanced over at her pokemon as the spots on it's back and head exploded into flames. It wasn't a large pokemon by any means, but it's long body and legs gave it the potential to be speedy, and he was certain Dawn would play this to her advantage. Looking at Golduck, he knew he would have to be on his toes to keep up with his partner.

Emmett and Ingo had also sized up their opponents, and released their pokemon; a strange, bulky brown pokemon who was very clearly steel type with it's monstrous claws and razor-like horn on it's head. Ingo called it an Excadrill, and it didn't seem intimidated facing two pokemon it was potentially at a type disadvantage with. Emmett's pokemon was even more peculiar looking, a beakless bird pokemon with an array of colours in it's plumage. It's erratic flapping suggested it wasn't primarily a flying type, and it's claws were menacingly sharp. According to it's trainer, it went by the name Archeops.

"Got a plan yet?" Dawn muttered, having obviously gone through her normal routine of calculating the opponent's battling style. These two were twins, it was obvious they were going to be in total synchronisation, and that meant she and Paul needed to be as well.

"You focus fire attacks on that one." He muttered as he nodded to the Excadrill. "I've got the Archeops."

"No!" Dawn hissed, "we won't win if we take them on separately, we're going to have to work together."

Paul recalled Ash saying something of a similar kind, and it had only irritated him, but now, with Dawn suggesting it, he couldn't help but feel intrigued by the idea.

"I'm no good at it." He replied.

"You're a fast learner." She shrugged. "Just follow my lead."

"The challengers take the first move." Ingo gestured as he called for the battle to begin. Somehow, as if the train could hear him, it lurched forward to begin it's journey. Both Dawn and Paul jolted forward, thankful for Emmett's suggestion of holding on. It was with the jarring of their shoulders that Paul realised how much more difficult is was going to be to battle now he had to think about his own balance as well. Looking over at the Subway bosses, they weren't even holding onto anything, and they seemed to sway with the train as it accelerated, perfectly acclimated for this kind of battle.

Dawn didn't seem bothered by this, for the moment, as she stepped right into action. "Okay Quilava! Start off with a Swift attack!"

"Calm mind." Paul ordered, knowing he would only have one chance to bulk up a little. His Golduck nodded, allowing his partner to distract the opposition.

"Excadrill, rapid spin!"

Archeops fell in place behind it's partner, who was somehow combining it's claws to it's horn to create one round drill shape, and then spun with such intensity that the swift attack rebounded around the room instead of actually doing damage.

Paul grumbled, this certainly wasn't going to be as easy. "Hydro pump."

Quilava leapt aside with beautiful timing to miss the incoming water attack, adding to it with a flamethrower under Dawn's command. This startled Paul, who wasn't used to combinations like she was, and the result was impressive.

"Protect, Archeops!"

It was good that the Subway Bosses were stuck in defence, but things weren't going to go anywhere if they kept up like this.

"What next?" Dawn asked.

"We get in close." He said quietly, then raising his voice to his pokemon. "Focus Punch!"

Dawn glanced in his direction, but he was focussing on any potential danger he was putting his Golduck in. When Archeops made a move, he quickly snapped at Dawn. "Cover me."

She nodded. "Quilava! Quick attack!"

She knew it wouldn't be particularly effective, so it surprised her when her pokemon suddenly burst into flames as it ran, heat engulfing the cart as it slammed into the flying pokemon.

"Whoa."

"That's flame wheel." Paul muttered, smirking slightly.

"Sweet!" She grinned as the train threw her sideways. She swung from her hoop daintily, her tiptoes scurrying after her in an attempt to keep her upright, and she seemed to have been getting better at it by the second.

Paul, however, was having no such luck. He liked to stay stationary during a battle and think of nothing but the battle itself. So he'd stumbled occasionally and his Golduck took damage for it.

After five more minutes of intense battling, neither team were backing down, and all four pokemon were panting for breath, determined to bring victory for their team.

"Flamethrower!" Dawn commanded, inspiration hitting her.

"You know what they're going to do-"

"Then you better get around it, Paul." She snapped back, meeting his stare with her own. He blinked in surprise, she'd never used that tone on him before, nobody had. It was... Jarring.

"Now!" She gestured the battle, and Paul nodded.

"Golduck, Ice Beam now!"

He hadn't used this move yet, and Archeops didn't have the energy to evade. It clung to one of the railings as it took the attack, but ended up swinging off and collapsing to the floor.

The lights suddenly flickered off and on repeatedly, stopping the battle. By the looks on the Subway Bosses' faces, this was not the norm.

"What's going on?" Ingo yelled, and when the lights came back on, he was in the corner, talking down the emergency telephone.

"Some sort of... -sturbance in the electricity line... I'm losing speed a- ...too." The crackled voice echoed through as well. "There seems to be a th-" They lost contact for another second before he was suddenly blaring through again; "-een struck, it's collapsi-... out of there!"

Suddenly the lights went out for good, and the man on the other end of the telephone could no longer be heard. The only light source was Quilava, and the other three trainers returned their pokemon as they clung to a pole to keep themselves from flying toward the front of the carriage as the train rapidly decelerated. A hand came across Paul's shoulder as he stumbled a little, and he looked to see Dawn had caught him just before his hand lost grip on his hoop.

Just as the train came to a stop, a deafening crash rumbled from above them, giving them mere seconds to register before the source of the sound became apparent. The roof caved in just behind where Paul and Dawn stood, their cries of alarm barely heard over the thundering of metal being crushed. In seconds, they were thrown toward the bend in the train, but Emmett and Ingo seemed to have managed to gain enough balance to pull them away before the crushed roof came down upon them.

"Time to go!" Emmett yelled into Dawn's ear as he helped her up quickly and ushered her toward the next carriage and out of harm's way.

"What is it!?"

Nobody replied to Dawn's question as they hurried away from the wreckage and out of the train altogether. When they felt they were far enough away from the source, they glanced over their shoulder to see a very familiar pokeball shaped cart and metal machinery had forced its way into the Subway.

"Is that-"

"That's the Ferris wheel!" The twins realised together.

"What's going on up there!?"

"Oh my gosh." Dawn cried, her hand covering her mouth as tears welled up. Paul placed a hand on her shoulder and urged her forward as they continued to move, knowing they needed to get out of the Subway before something else came crashing through the concrete ceiling.

"Where does this lead to?" Paul asked.

"The stadium, far away from the Ferris wheel." Ingo informed him. "If she's safe, Elesa will be near her gym and she'll tell us what's going on."

Dawn was still mulling over what she had just seen. "I hope nobody was on it..."

Paul glanced at her as they ran, knowing only too well that there was a large chance the ferris wheel's collapsing would have killed and injured many who were in the vicinity, but he didn't dare dash her hopes when she was still in danger of adding to the death count.

The thought only made him push her faster. "We need to get out of here."

Emmett agreed, pointing toward a glowing sign that didn't seem to run on electricity. "There's the exit. Stay close to us."

Ingo, who had taken the lead, leapt up onto the high platform with ease due to his long legs, and turned to give Paul a helping hand up as Emmett lifted Dawn then joined them himself.

"Hariyama." Paul muttered as he released his pokemon. "I'm going to need you to keep watch." He said to the bewildered pokemon who had no clue as to what was going on. He didn't feel too informed himself, so decided to let the pokemon come to it's own conclusions.

"Should I get Mamoswine?" Dawn offered.

"Maybe when we're outside." Ingo said, gesturing to the small staircase leading to out of the Subway. Mamoswine would not fit through there.

"Right." She muttered as they started up the stairs. Paul suddenly had his hand out, and she took it instantly. It was no time to lose each other, and she was his priority. As they hurried up in search for light, they did not find any. The torrential rain alerted them that they were outside first, then a fork of lightning flashed above them, the thunderous sound coming mere moments later.

Paul remembered how the shorter the distance between thunder and lightning, the closer it was to them.

"It's followed us, Paul." Dawn whimpered beside him, as they stared across the utter chaos that had taken over Nimbasa City.


	20. Admitted

In the short time it had taken to battle, the city had turned into chaos. Most people were running for their lives, clutching children and pokemon, all of which were crying in panic. Another fork of lightning lashed across the sky and was gone just as quickly, but it had been enough to set yet another skyscraper ablaze.

Firemen, Paramedics and Police scattered around, becoming too thin and spread out to be of much use to anybody, but doing all they could to desperately save lives.

The four who had escaped the subway merely stared, nobody was fleeing past them to go underground, there was still enough sense to steer clear and just get away from the tall buildings that were starting to groan under the pressure. It wasn't until a burning man flung himself from a window at least fifteen stories high to escape the flames did the small group spring to action. Hariyama ran forward, jumping high enough to catch the man and slow down his descent, landing neatly back on the pavement. With huge, flat palms, the fighting type smothered the flames along the man's suit, ending the burning, but it had already melted a lot of flesh off his thigh and arm. Paramedics were suddenly at their side to take him away and hopefully save his life.

"Paul..." Dawn's worried whimper could just be heard over the cacophony of shrieks and lightning. She had already gripped onto his sleeve, and was now tugging it to make him face the same direction that she was. Down the long street, they could see the distinct red roof of the pokemon centre, completely engulfed by the flames that had made their way across the buildings surrounding it. There must have been some trigger that had released all the pokemon in there, for they were flooding out on foot or wing through every door and window possible, some carrying unconscious humans.

"We're heading to Elesa." Ingo informed them, gesturing in the direction of the gym.

Emmett nodded. "Evacuate from the city, that way is your fastest route out of here." He points in the opposite direction, down a road that had yet to have been touched with fire.

"Thanks." Paul took his hand quickly and then let them run away. He turned to Dawn, but she was no longer frightened, she was determined.

"I'm not leaving." She insisted.

"We should do as they say, this place is coming down!" Paul barked at her, taking her wrist and trying to yank her in the direction the Subway Bosses had suggested.

"Then we hold it up!" She snatched her wrist away, taking a step back so she was out of reach to him. "These are people's homes! Imagine if this was Veilstone, would you flee?"

That stumped him, he wouldn't leave until the end of the catastrophe was official. Thinking about it now, he knew he wouldn't leave Dawn to do it alone, either.

"We stay together then." He ordered, glancing to Hariyama, who nodded.

"Together." She agreed, holding her hand back out. Once he took it, they began to battle through the crowds who were too shocked to care about being shoved aside. Fear rocked through Dawn's stomach, but it consequentially ignited a flame of her old determination. Hadn't she faced death before? Hadn't she shouted in that face? The only difference was it was Paul at her side now, and he was just as good a trainer as Ash, if not stronger.

Paul was thinking more practically, wondering where they could begin with their hopeless heroics. His eyes flitted across the scene, but realised Dawn already had her target.

Of course she'd head for the pokemon centre first. After the story she'd heard only earlier that day, when everything was peaceful...

"Piplup!" She cried, throwing a pokeball in the air. "Hydro Pump!"

The small, startled pokemon did as commanded, blasting at the flames that licked out of the window and heading straight into the fire. Dawn and Paul stopped to check over the unconscious humans, and realised none were Nurse Joy.

Without thinking, Dawn began running in after her pokemon, ignoring the calls from Paul. She wrapped her scarf tightly over her mouth and nose, still struggling with the barely oxygenated air. She squinted through the smoke, and eventually stumbled into the counter Nurse Joy worked behind. Peering over, the woman was not there.

_Think Dawn. Think! _She ordered, tracing through what she thought Nurse Joy would do in the event of a fire.

The pokemon were released, so there must be a lever that triggers it. Hurrying into what would be off limits to trainers for it was the storage room, she shoved the door aside and then cringed away from the flames that licked across the space in front of her then shrank back onto the shelves. A cry could be heard from the corner. Following it, she could faintly see the outline of Meloetta, frightened in the corner as it wailed. She scooped up the catatonic pokemon, then cried out for Piplup, who met her outside of the room.

"Is Nurse Joy anywhere?" She coughed, pressing her hand to her mouth in an attempt to block any more smoke. Piplup nodded and led her to the stairs, but Dawn shook her head. "Take this Meloetta! Give it to Paul!" Piplup grasped the tiny pokemon in its flippers and hurried off, and Dawn sprang up the stairs. She wouldn't hold out much longer in this thick smoke, particularly as it thickened up the stairs, but she had to help the woman who had healed her pokemon and shown such compassion.

"Dawn?" A yell from downstairs. Paul.

"Up here!" She tried to reply, but it came out in a fit of coughs, her lungs beginning to spasm in panic. She dropped to her knees instinctively, finding the smoke marginally thinner, but it also helped her locate the missing nurse. "Joy!" She rasped, but Paul was running past her.

"Get downstairs Dawn, get out, I've got her!" He demanded, hoisting the unconscious body over his shoulder like a real fireman would.

Dawn, realising how close she was to joining Joy in the realm of oblivion, practically fell down the stairs and leapt for the front door, collapsing to one side as Paul rushed out beside her. Nobody had seen them enter in the chaos, but Paul carrying the distinctly known woman out of the door had been very noticeable. People flooded up to him; Paramedics to take Joy, Firemen to congratulate and scold them, more healers to check he was okay. One medic noticed Dawn as she threw up her last meal onto the street beside her and hurried to put on an oxygen mask on her, which her lungs were overwhelmingly thankful for.

Paul glanced over at Dawn from the bench he sat at with Meloetta on his lap, catching her eye as she sipped at a bottle of water. He nodded toward her with a raised eyebrow, and she instinctively knew what he was asking. _Are you okay?_

She nodded back gently, smiling a little, and he did so back. Relief.

"I'm going to have to leave you, now." The medic said, pulling up the oxygen tank and throwing it over his back. Dawn nodded and smiled up at him. "Thanks for the air."

He smiled solemnly at her. "You're welcome. Take care of yourself." And he was gone. When she looked back, Paul had approached her and offered his hand, which she took and allowed him to hoist her up.

"Thanks." She breathed, meaning more than just the assistance to stand. He didn't reply, there were already more distractions.

"Had enough of the heroics?" He asked.

"We can't keep it up forever, but I'll run my feet to the bone trying." She frowned, shocked at how Paul carelessly cast off the chance to help someone.

"If I hadn't have gone in there after you, you would be dead now!" He hissed back at her, offended by her quite obvious judgement.

She raised her voice as best she could after inhaling the amount of smoke that she had. "And that's what's going to happen to hundreds of people if we don't help them!"

A growl ripped through his throat like some rabid Zangoose, and his eyes were just as fired up in anger. "You're going to get us killed!" He yelled at her as she shoved past him and began storming down the street. He followed her with heavy, weighted footsteps.

"I never said you had to help."

"Your last feat proves otherwise."

She spun around on her heels, her short fuse completely burnt out. "Just go Paul! It's clear where you stand! But I'm not like you, I can't turn my back on someone who needs help!"

It seemed, he realised, his patience was just as short as hers. "And I can't turn my back on you!"

That cut her short.

"I can't do it anymore!" He shouted coarsely, causing her to flinch.

Before she could reply, another bolt of lightning struck, this one finding its mark on a tall tree, mere metres away from them. It groaned from the impact, and cracking quickly followed. They both spun to look at it, frozen as they watched it begin to tumble.

"Paul move!" Dawn shrieked, leaping back so she was out of the tree's way. Her cry seemed to have jolted him into movement, and he narrowly missed it by a hair. The monstrous tree had taken out the front of a building with it's branches and oranging leaves kicked up everywhere with the shards of glass and dust. As it settled, Paul turned to peer over the large trunk, spotting Dawn on the other side.

"Wait there a second." He called over, trying to find footing in the thick trunk so he could climb over. He clung onto a branch that was just over his head, and hoisted himself up to straddle it, the log then becoming more horizontal s he could walk across it. However, his weight had knocked the tree out of it's precarious balance on the floor of the building it had crashed into, and it shuddered down once, causing both he and Dawn to call out in alarm. It wasn't the imbalance that worried them though, the movement had caused a strange metallic ripping sound, and before they could place the sound, they were greeted with a gas blast, throwing them back away from the building, and Paul dropping the ten foot he had climbed up.

The blinding light of the blast was the last they remembered.


	21. Indebted

_What's that noise? _

It was getting louder, though it didn't seem like it was the volume, it was that his ears were only just beginning to listen. Like he'd slept through it for a long while and now he couldn't ignore it.

His head ached fiercely, and a groan rumbled through his chest as he turned his head away from the noise.

Now becoming irritatingly more aware of the the world, it wasn't just his head that hurt. His ears were pulsing with every sound they picked up, and his throat burned like he'd swallowed fire. His bones felt brittle, as if electric currents were being pulsed along them, not dissimilar to when he went through his growth spurts, only much more intense.

_What is that damn noise!?_

Would it be so much to ask for a little bit of quiet?

And why did he feel so rough?

As his mind asked the question, his memory provided him the answer with little flashes. His hands tingled at the thought of the tree scraping his palms as he climbed it. His knees buckled instinctively as he remembered the feeling of his weight overthrowing the precarious balance of the trunk. Then lights suddenly flashed and skipped through his memory, and now where was he? How long had he been unconscious? What had happened during his visit to oblivion?

Calmly, he made a note of what he could make out without opening his eyes.

He was warm, and there was no wind, which meant he was sheltered. He could feel all his muscles tense individually through a brief inspection, so it meant he wasn't horrifically injured. Under his fingers could feel the softness of cotton sheets, and his feet could feel more of the material was covering him. The place smelt clean, bright light was seeping red through his eyelids and other than that obnoxious beeping sound beside him, the place was quiet.

With no other way to find out where he was, he focussed on slowly opening his eyes. The light caused his eyes to sting and reflexively shut them tight again, his mind complaining about the pain it caused. Slowly, his eyelashes allowed the light to filter through gently and acclimating to the brightness, until finally a head popped into his vision and generously blocked the light.

"You're awake." She breathed, her mouth gently pulling up at the sides. Relief.

Unable to process much for the moment, he glanced toward the source of the sound and saw a machine that was hooked up to his heart. He didn't know the name of it, but he understood what it was.

A hand came down gently on his. He realised this had been a common occurrence as he slept, because his hand was notably warmer than any other part of his body. His head slowly turned to look at the contact, and his eyes roamed up her arms to eventually reach her face.

"Hey." She whispered.

He made an effort to reply, but all that escaped him was a grunt.

"It's okay." She told him. "You inhaled a lot of smoke, and had to have tubes breathing for you for a little while. You're breathing on your own now though." She told him.

He wasn't all that concerned for himself, one look over confirmed his previous self-diagnosis was correct; there were no broken bones. He took another moment to check over Dawn as well, though the fact that she was sat up next to his bed told him that he was the one who came out worse. She had a large gash along her right cheek bone with small butterfree stitches to hold it together, and on her left temple right across to her brow bone was a dark purple bruise. Her eyes were bright enough, and she seemed to breath with little trouble, so he guessed she had gotten rid of a lot of smoke when she vomited in the street and was given oxygen soon after.

"I'm fine." She informed him, as if she could read his mind. "I took a blow to the head when I was thrown back from the explosion, but I didn't have a fall like you did, I woke up minutes later."

He frowned, though his eyes ached at the movement.

She looked down at her hand that rested upon his. "I got you out of there as fast as I could. The injured were distributed around the nearby hospitals, we're in North Castelia Trust." Her eyes watered, clearly something was playing on her mind the whole time he was unconscious. "I couldn't help but panic, because if anything had happened to you-" her voice broke off as she cleared her throat in an attempt to stay strong as she spoke. "It would have been my fault."

He watched as her eyes flickered with horror, the possibilities flashing through her imagination. He tried to say her name, but all that escaped was a raspy sigh.

"Sorry, you must be so thirsty." She rambled quickly in an attempt to distract herself. "Here I am, bombarding you with news as soon as you've woken up and I haven't the decency to make sure you're comfortable."

He didn't attempt to stop her, he'd seen her manic busy-body moments before. He knew better than to waste his energy, so instead he closed his eyes and tried to shut out her incoherent muttering.

"Here."

She felt her adjust his pillow so he could sip at a glass of water, and then she continued to fret over him. He didn't mind, it gave him chance to shut her out and do some thinking of his own.

Besides the intense feeling of dull aching, he had very little in the way of emotion. Perhaps it was exhaustion, or perhaps he'd lost the ability to care. His mind ran over the events of however many days ago it was, skipping over the particularly gruesome images he'd caught sight of. It wasn't until he finally remembered Dawn turning her back on him did an emotion flood back into his body, and it only added to the pain in his body as his muscles tensed.

He placed the cup aside before he ended up dropping it, and squeezed his eyes shut to try and banish the overwhelming anger that was crippling his entire body.

"Paul?" The hand came back down on his, but he snatched himself away from the contact, stirring a quiet gasp from her.

"Why didn't you do as I said?" The water had cleared his throat significantly, but his voice was still reduced to an almost silent raspy noise.

She didn't reply, she only gulped.

He opened his eyes to stare at her. "Why?" He repeated.

"You're mad at me." It wasn't a question, she'd already known he was more than likely infuriated with her.

He grunted, then winced at the throb in his throat.

"You have every right to be." She muttered, unable to keep eye contact. "I was so busy trying to save everyone when the one person I should have been looking out for was you." Tears had begun to trickle down her face. "Just like you had my back. But I didn't think. I didn't know you needed protecting, I was selfish and you paid the price. Again."

Though anger was still bubbling in his stomach, even he couldn't keep it up when the fire it was directed it was this pathetic and babbling through tears. He sighed and shoved his petty grudge away, a feat he never thought he was capable of, and took her hand again.

She opened her eyes to look at their contact, then up at him. His expression was still one of anger, but wasn't it usually? He was still annoyed at her, but she was forgiven. She put her head down and sobbed.

* * *

><p>Since his heart had been stable throughout his unconsciousness, and his lungs were cleared days ago, he was allowed to sleep in a bedroom rather than a hard hospital bed, only required for one more check up in the morning then he was free to leave. He wasn't sure whether he was fit enough to be travelling the next day, but he had a suspicion that the hospital needed that bed for more patients being rushed in, and he wasn't an emergency any longer. Not that he minded, the thought of sleeping in a hospital bed sent shivers down his spine.<p>

Dawn had been frighteningly quiet since her outburst. She shuffled after him wherever he went, only speaking when spoken to, and given that he couldn't talk much, it meant she did even less.

It had begun to unnerve him, as well as irritate him. How much effort could he afford to waste attempting to make conversation with the girl. It was at dinner he finally broke, he had noticed her stirring her thick cream soup, staring into it blankly and he slammed his own spoon down.

"What's wrong with you?" He croaked.

Her eyes were wide with shock from the first loud sound she'd heard in a while, and it took her a moment to recover. "Sorry, I've just been thinking."

Her apology did nothing to calm him, only aggravate him more now that curiosity was there to ignite the flame.

"Meloetta has disappeared." She explained, throwing his train of thought off completely. All day, he had not though about his own pokemon let alone the wild one that seemed to have trouble following it everywhere it went.

"I saved it from the pokemon centre, but then I haven't seen it since." Dawn tilted her head in thought.

"Probably frightened off by all the lightning." He shrugged, knowing that it can only be a good thing that the danger magnet had departed.

Having no other explanation herself, Dawn shrugged too and began to eat her cooled soup, the only thing that comfortably slid down their raw throats.

* * *

><p>They wandered through the gardens that had been built for patients who could move around but needed to stay in reach of the hospital's care. Their allocated room was a five minute walk across, and half of it had been in silence.<p>

Finally, her thoughts burst out of her.

"I'm not going to let you down again, Paul." She vowed. He stopped walking and looked at her. It intimidated her a little, but she looked him in the eye and continued. "You've saved my life so many times, and it's about time I repaid the debt."

Before he could retort, she cut him off. "Thank you, for everything you've done for me the past few weeks. I never expected such kindness from you."

A smirk played at his lips, and he tried to fight it. Instead, an uncomfortable cough rattled through his chest. "I uhh... You're welcome, I guess..."

He hadn't seen the signs. If he had, he'd have stopped her before she could make such a mistake. Her lips crashed against his, her hands finding his shoulders and clutching on tightly. His entire body stiffened up, his hands caught half way in the act of either holding her back or trying to shove her away. It took her a moment to realise he wasn't responding, not in the way she'd hoped, or daydreamed about. When the reality sunk in for her, she stumbled backwards, confusion the only evident expression on her face. He seemed to be locked in conflict as well, but he'd refused her, or as much as he could without outwardly humiliating her and pushing her away in disgust.

Confusion became replaced with hurt, and her eyes watered unwillingly. Before they would betray her, she turned and ran for her room. He didn't try to follow, knowing how insulting that would be to her.

He'd wanted that.

He immediately knew how badly he wanted her to make the first move.

Indebted, she had said. She needed to repay him. All that had ran through his head as she kissed him was how she'd said she owed him, and the idea that this was her way of repaying him was simply not good enough.

He wanted it to be real.

And he never thought he'd be such a hopeless romantic.


	22. Regrouped

The door yanked open faster than Dawn had pulled it, and it took her a second to realise that was because somebody had fallen asleep against it on the other side.

Paul groaned as his face slammed against the her foot, and she yanked it from beneath him to make him fall to the floor and take another knock to the face. Trying to regain a little dignity, he slowly rolled onto his front to push up onto his knees. The way she glared down at him drained any sense of pride he'd managed to scrape up.

"You slept out here?" Dawn asked monotonously, stepping past him and shutting the door.

He had better sense than to reply with a sarcastic comment; when in a hole, it is wise not to dig any deeper.

"I'm surprised you had the patience to wait for me." She added, tossing the room key onto the counter and wandering for the exit.

"Where are we going?" He asked, ignoring her jabs as best as his short patience would allow. Biting his lip had proven the best possible way to keep his mouth shut.

_"I'm_ going home." She replied, making a point of not including him.

"Home?"

"I'm certainly not staying here." She turned on him, but her eyes were on something moving behind him. "And you haven't been cleared to leave yet. Goodbye Paul." And with that cold, emotionless farewell, she turned on her heels and headed for the door.

It would have genuinely hurt him had he not heard her sobbing endlessly for hours through the door he had given up trying to smash through.

Before he could try and follow her though, a doctor placed his hand onto Paul's shoulder, turning him in the opposite direction. "Ah, I've been looking for you. You look tired. Are you in pain?"

He threw a look over his shoulder, Dawn had already disappeared.

If inner-conflict equalled pain, then he certainly was. It was giving him a headache, at least.

"I'll get you some painkillers, give you a check-up, and then hopefully you'll be free to leave." The doctor smiled, seemingly not noticing Paul's deflated demeanour.

With the all clear to leave, he hurried out of the hospital with little more than a thank you as a farewell. He was done with the self loathing for his stupidity, if anything he had been noble in his actions, whether she understood that or not.

However, he'd already admitted he couldn't turn his back on her. Perhaps it was his drive to see anything through to the end properly, and giving up had never been an option in anything for him. Maybe she was ridiculously manipulative that even she didn't know what he was doing any more. But he knew it was partly because he'd been frightened, and given the time to mull that over, he'd never felt more embarrassed in his life. He needed to fix that.

* * *

><p>Fuming through most of her journey through Castelia, she had little opportunity to take in the vast city. Not that there was much to look at, the city was obviously not for tourists, only businessmen and trainers seeking out the gym in the centre of the city.<p>

Her feet stumbled to a stop before she realised what was stopping her. She looked up and saw the harbour ahead, and a shiver rocked through her spine.

How could she be expected to catch a ferry back home after the last time?

Would she ever be able to step foot on a boat again? How could she get home? She could fly, but could she afford an aeroplane ticket? She'd spent her Sinnoh journey savings on Paul, and what little she'd had left was lost in the accident that had gotten her into this predicament in the first place.

"What am I going to do?" She muttered to herself as she slumped onto a nearby bench and placed her head in her hands.

"Well you could start by coming to dinner."

Her head shot up, instantly recognising the voice before twisting around to confirm it.

"Ash!" She cried, shooting up from her seat and colliding into his waiting arms. Pikachu leapt from his usual perch and onto Dawn's shoulder, patting her hair excitedly. Ash's hearty laughter rumbled through his chest, and it was only now after the initial shock did she notice how much deeper his voice had gotten. How long had it been? Not _that _long, surely? Was he always so tall?

"It's good to see you Dawn!"

She didn't have to look at him to know he was grinning. It was only when she looked up and gave him chance to take in her appearance did he really see her properly. His smile dropped, replaced with a mixture of concern and confusion and ready anger for whatever had been the cause of her bruises.

"Dawn-" His hand hovered over her cheek, his fingers barely brushing her skin.

She dropped her gaze, mumbling her regularly used phrase of 'no need to worry.' It didn't convince him.

"Let's go eat."

* * *

><p>She explained as they ate their food, and Ash sat patiently, his hand twitching every so often to reach for her face. Sometime he gave in and brushed her hair aside to examine her eye once more, and she did not bother to assure him that she was fine after the second time.<p>

"So where's Paul now?" Ash asked, his eyes automatically sweeping across the room as if his ex-rival would somehow appear.

Of course she'd left a few details out of her story, the weren't crucial to explaining how she'd wound up in Unova anyway. "We went our separate ways." She muttered vaguely, drinking from her glass to try and close the subject.

"What, just like that?"

She shrugged, desperately trying to feign nonchalance.

"What did he do?" He asked with acid dripping into his tone.

"Nothing." Dawn insisted, but her eyeline dropped. She could hide nothing from Ash, they had spent far too long together for him to not be able to read her like a book.

"You weren't... Uhh... You know..." Ash trailed off, his cheeks tinting a bright red colour.

It took her a second to understand what he was trying to say, because it was so unlike him to jump to this sort of conclusion. "It wasn't like that..." She told him, shaking her head. _It could have been... _She added in her head. "We're just friends."

Ash wasn't convinced, but he had other problems to question. "But he let you travel back home alone?"

"I chose to go."

"He still should have followed you." He insisted, shaking his head. "After all you've been through, you shouldn't be left alone."

She smiled weakly, seeing where this was going. "You're not taking me to Sinnoh, Ash."

"Why not?" He frowned, folding his arms.

"Because you have stuff to do, you have your friends here. You can't ditch them because of me. I'll be fine." She took the hand that had twitched in her direction again and smiled. "Thank you though."

He stayed quiet for a long while, his frown furrowing deeper as he battled through some inner conflict. She did not interrupt him, she would only insist him continuing on through his new journey.

"Come with me."

She hadn't expected that. She blinked. "What?"

"Come with me," he repeated; "I miss you Dawn. So much. Come with us, we'll have fun!"

She watched him as his face lit up with the idea, and it ignited a huge spark in the corner of her heart that had felt so empty recently. Her imagination ran wild with the possibilities, and how happy she would be to travel with Ash again.

But the thought also felt so wrong.

For one, Brock would not be there, and two strangers would. Ash would not be the Ash she knew around her and Brock, he would be different around his new friends, just like she was different around Paul. Would she want to be friends with this different Ash? She didn't want to jeopardize such a special bond.

Also, the selfish part of herself reminded her of how much hurt their last farewell had inflicted on her. How long had it taken for her to pull herself back together again? Would it be worse a second time? She imagined it would.

"Ash I..." Her words hitched in her throat as he looked at her with expectant excitement. It killed her to dash such hope. "I think our journey together came to an end for a reason." She explained carefully. "You're travelling with new friends now, and you will learn so much more with them. I'll just hold you back. Besides, Unova don't hold contests here."

The disappointment in his face nearly made her give in right there, but they both knew her words were the truth, travelling with him was not going to benefit either of them. He smiled weakly as they paid the bill and stood to leave. Before she could exit the restaurant, he'd taken her hand and was intent in keeping her by his side as they strolled for the harbour.

"Where are your friends, anyway?" She asked.

"They went to the pokemon centre, when I spotted you they said I should catch up with you." He explained, swinging their arms between them. Though their relationship was completely platonic, he seemed bemused with keeping contact with her. In all their journeying, this was the most un-platonic thing they'd ever done. Maybe it was the realisation of how much they'd sorely missed each other.

She looked back at the harbour, and even with the calming feeling of having her partner in crime at her side, the horrific shudders began to ripple down her spine again. He took one look at her pale complexion and managed to catch her before she keeled over.

"I think..." She gasped for breath. "I think I'll travel with you for a little while."

He beamed as he straightened her up again and guided her toward the pokemon centre. "Great to have you back on the team, Dee-Dee."

* * *

><p><strong>Ugh this so wasn't how I was planning for this fic to go but every route I've gone down for this chapter has dead ended so this has opened up that fantastic rivalry again and now it'll be on a new level! 8D<strong>

**you can hate pearlshipping all you like, but I love it and you have to admit it's closer to canon than Ikari. (Ikari is my otp though so)**

**Shut up besanii**


	23. Consoled

Ash's new group were as welcoming as Dawn had been with May when she'd visited. Cilan had whisked away Piplup and demanded to see her other pokemon the next day, and Iris seemed to revel in the potential of having a female friend, which Dawn easily related to. Ash had taken to the background, allowing her to become friends with his newest ones, but she glanced over her shoulder several times and caught him smiling back at her.

"You make poffins?" Cilan exclaimed, now lifting a small tin to his nose so he could sniff them.

"Try one." Dawn insisted, lifting up one she knew was a particular favourite of Pikachu's and throwing it to Ash. He caught it with little thought and fed it to his tiny counterpart.

Cilan bit into a blue poffin and his face lit up when he studied the remainder. "It's yellow in the middle!"

"That's my Wakan-Oran poffin. I made them for Piplup when we battled with Pikachu so-"

"-So he'd be less vulnerable to electric types! That's incredible!" Cilan interrupted, only in excitement, it was not his intent to be rude.

Dawn nodded, she had already realised how easily excitable Cilan was and wasn't offended by his outbursts. "Right."

"Can you teach me to make them?" His face lit up as he yanked out a pen and notepad, but Iris rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow, Cilan. She's only been here for five minutes."

"Yeah, sorry. I'll bet you're tired." He replied, tucking away his belongings into his pocket again.

"I'm exhausted."

Ash finally spoke up. "Did you get a room for four?"

Cilan shook his head. "We didn't think you were staying, sorry Dawn."

"They probably won't have any rooms available either..." Iris muttered. "You can share with me, if you'd like?"

"No, you kick in your sleep." Cilan laughed.

Dawn chuckled. "That's okay, I can camp out."

"Where? In the desert?" Ash perked a brow, then stood up. "You can have my bed, I'll sleep on the floor."

She tilted her head. "Are you sure?"

He only replied with a grin and headed for the stairs.

* * *

><p>Sleep wasn't going to arrive any time soon, as she had been well aware since the horrific event in Nimbasa. It had been difficult to sleep even before then. During Paul's unconsciousness, she had only slept with the help of medicines, but the doctors had weaned her off them before she was discharged. She had only slept for an hour or so the night before, and that was only due to mentally exhausting herself and crying until her headache pounded her into oblivion.<p>

Now there was a distinct feeling that she wouldn't sleep without one particular person near her. It made her angry at herself, loathing how dependant she had become. The only consolidation she could come up with was that she could guarantee Paul would not be sleeping either.

A sigh escaped her before she acknowledged it's arrival, and a rustling of quilts alerted her that somebody was awake. She knew exactly who it was.

"Dawn? Are you okay?"

She rolled over to see Ash had sat up and was peering up at her. Pikachu had not been woken, but grumbled in his sleep as Ash moved his legs from beneath him.

"Yes, sorry, did I wake you?"

He shrugged, "I haven't been sleeping well here, you know how I was in Sinnoh in the first few weeks."

She did remember, Brock had explained to her that time differences made their body clocks confused, and it often took a while for them to adjust their sleeping pattern. Ash suffered from 'jet lag' more than the average person, but she had a theory it had something to do with him suppressing home sickness.

"Why aren't you asleep?" He asked, glancing over at Iris, who had thankfully not been woken.

Dawn glanced down, feeling her cheeks warm. "I haven't been sleeping well either, lately."

He nodded, seeming to understand. Just as she knew him, he'd learnt a lot about her in return too. Stress was not good for Dawn, and he'd found her awake in the early hours of the morning many a time during their journey. He couldn't blame her for not sleeping tonight.

Climbing up onto her bed, he slipped his lower half under the quilts and smiled. "Might as well keep each other company then."

She smiled, and lay back into her pillow.

They talked in a hushed whisper, using the dim light that had seeped in through the cracks of the door and around the curtain to read the words on their lips instead of struggling to hear. It seemed like hours, but they didn't mind, it had been a long time and they still had a lot to talk about. When they'd exhausted the topics of catching up with each other, they began to reminisce about old times, mainly the happier ones.

Before they realised it, they'd shuffled and fidgeted around each other to gain a new cooler and more comfortable patch until they'd wound up on the other end of the bed, Ash diagonal with one leg dangling off the edge and the other one sprawling along the edge. Dawn had continuously shifted where she lay her head until she'd found a particularly comfortable pillow, being Ash's stomach. Her legs were lying upwards against the wall, one hand finding his like back at the harbour.

When she realised how they'd wound up, she couldn't help but compare this night with her night with Paul, and a heavy weight of guilt landed on her heart. She and Ash were so comfortable with one another that neither had batted an eyelid when she lay her head upon him, their conversation hadn't even stuttered. But things weren't so easy for Paul, he'd never been a people person, and yet he'd still put himself into such an uncomfortable position, to help her, to look after her.

And look what she'd done.

An overwhelming treacherous feeling threatened to consume her as she held onto her reasoning for her departure.

"Things are going to be okay, Dawn." Ash muttered after many minutes of silence. His free hand had absent mindedly started brushing her hair like he would with Pikachu's fur. It was strangely calming, and she forced a weak smile as a sheen glazed over her wide eyes.

"How do you know?" She asked quietly, knowing his answer could never help her when he didn't know all that was going on her head.

Still, his answer was certain and unwavering. "Because you're strong. You will work things out."

The tone in his voice made her question how much he'd already worked out, but she'd never expected him to be so... observant. Maybe it was those childlike qualities he possessed that made him look straight through all her lies and see the truth beneath her hurt. Whatever it was, it made her feel very vulnerable, but safely so.

His hand squeezed hers, and she had to wipe her eyes before tears began to trickle down her face.

"Don't cry." He requested quietly as he slid a hand under her head and guided her to rest it on his upper arm. She sighed once he'd gotten her settled, and the comfort of his light embrace only made the guilt feel heavier. The tears began to roll down the side of her cheeks, and he said nothing as she let out a quiet sob.

It seemed like the only way she would ever get to sleep was through crying herself exhausted.

* * *

><p>Not sure where he was wandering to, he'd wound up getting lost. The forest he'd found himself in was dark and surprisingly dry, but he guessed that was because it was night time and Unova was so much hotter than his home.<p>

He licked his lips, cursing the place as he searched for water, he'd need a drink soon or he would be seriously ill.

Light shone from a distance, and he was immediately entranced by the sloshing noise that came with finding the light. Water, hopefully.

He picked up his pace, taking his jacket off as he went, and yanking his dry canteen from his bag in desperate hope.

The light refused to get closer.

No matter how far he walked.

Or ran.

Another curse escaped his cracked lips in his hoarse voice.

He tripped in exhaustion, at exactly the wrong moment as he began barrelling down a steep hill and landing against a tree. Pain lanced through his back and straight along his limbs too, leaving him limp and weak.

The light continued to call to him. It was the only thing that gave him incentive to keep going.

Because after all, what else had he got?

Nobody really wanted him around.

He failed to realise where he was walking until he stepped right into deep waters, sinking before he could appreciate it's wetness.

Swim.

Float.

None of the commands were working.

Hold your breath.

Don't drown.

Why wasn't he listening?

* * *

><p>She flinched into reality, her body coated in a thick sheen of sweat and her hair plastered to her neck. Her hands had instinctively reached out, and then landed on her chest as if to assist in calming her heart and lungs.<p>

_Just a dream._ She repeated to herself mentally over and over. Her eyes peeked toward the direction of light breathing beside her, and cringed when wide, alarmed eyes were staring at her.

"What was that?" He asked quietly, his tone dripping with fear and shock.

Ashamed, she sat up and sighed. "Nightmares. I get them a lot."

He said nothing, but just watched as she shuddered and ran her hands through her hair to remove it from her neck, where it was beginning to annoy her. She looked back at him again, but looked away quickly.

"The doctor said it was normal after traumatic experiences." She explained.

"No Dawn," Ash muttered, sitting up. "You were crying out."

He didn't have to explain further for her to know what she'd been saying. "Oh." She gulped. Not knowing what else to say, she stared at her hands and sighed.

"I don't know what to do, Ash." She admitted, finding it increasingly difficult to keep a lid on the boiling guilt in her stomach.

He inhaled slowly, and draped an arm over her shoulder.

For the second time in one night, she put her head down and sobbed.


	24. Observed

Having worn herself past exhaustion, she managed to sleep dreamlessly through the remainder of the night. It was only when the heat of sunlight through the curtains was becoming unbearable whilst underneath the quilts did she reluctantly rouse herself, not even close to being fully rested. As she opened her eyes, her ears registered a foreign breathing beside her, one she wasn't used to being so close to.

"Morning."

She twisted her head to see Ash staring down at her with a weary gaze. His arm was still cradled around her shoulders and the side of his chest had apparently become a comfortable pillow for her, but he didn't look like he'd slept at all.

"You look tired." She muttered, sitting up.

He shrugged. "I'm fine." Though a yawn betrayed his words, she didn't question him further. Glancing over to the bunk beds, she realised they were vacated. Iris and Cilan must have woken long before she had and decided to go downstairs.

She slid out of the bed and yanked up her bag. What must they have thought of their... sleeping arrangement?

"Dawn-"

She paused at the en suite door, meeting Ash's gaze as he sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed.

He cleared his throat, and then coughed in a manner that told her that he was uncomfortable. "I err..."

"I need a shower Ash, what's wrong?" She pressed gently, and his gaze dropped down to Pikachu who had only just woken at his feet.

"You were talking... Muttering a lot in your sleep." He said quietly. "I don't know if you know. You never used to."

She pursed her lips, Paul had never told her this. The doctors had said about the nightmares, but nothing more. She hadn't dreamt again in the night, or she thought she hadn't...

"Oh." Was all she could say.

Ash frowned. "Are you running from something?"

She blinked, and then shook her head a little.

"You sounded like you wanted to escape something." He pressed, standing up and measuring her reaction carefully. She worked to keep calm, the last thing she wanted was to panic him.

A wave of worry splintered through her spine, she had been running, from those people, with the strange outfits and red hair. They hadn't taken up much of her thoughts through the day, being a little preoccupied with the other recent happenings, but perhaps the fear of them was seeping into her dreams, the only time she could allow them much thought at all.

Her throat tightened, and she forced a smile as she shrugged. "Sorry, I won't keep you up again."

Before she could shrink off, he'd caught her arm and tugged her to face him. His eyes were suddenly very intense, his protective nature bringing out his fierceness in his personality. "What are you running from?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ash. Dreams don't always make sense." She giggled nervously, doing nothing to placate him. "Please Ash, I need to shower. Could you grab us some breakfast?"

His grip on her arm had tightened to the point of it being uncomfortable, and it took him a few more seconds before he gave up and let her go. "Sure."

With a weak nod, she turned back into the en suite and locked the door behind her.

* * *

><p>Despite having run into a lot of bad luck lately, plus the fact that she had only just realised how much bad luck there actually was, it was comforting to fall back into an old rhythm as she walked alongside her oldest travel partner. Piplup was elated, chattering endlessly with Pikachu in front of the group while Cilan battered her with questions about her pokemon and her relationship with them.<p>

Iris, however, had taken a step back and was talking quietly with Ash, paying little attention to Dawn. She was a little thankful for it though, as Cilan was wearing her down fast.

"Where did you meet your Quilava? As a Cyndaquil?"

Dawn smiled at the fond memory. "I had him as an egg, hatched right in my arms." A motherly love washed through her, as she went into detail as to how they trained and how she took care of a fire type's hot fur which was so prone to frizzing. He did not seem bored for a second, and she did not tire of speaking about her team that she was so proud to have raised.

"You know how to raise your pokemon well." He observed quietly as their eyes trailed to Piplup.

She smiled a little. "I had a good teacher."

"Ash?"

"And our friend Brock too, he was so good with grooming and their health. Ash, he... It's like he knows how to communicate with pokemon. He taught me what it was to become one with your partner." She explained, her smile turning a little rueful. "He's an incredible person."

"Amongst other things." A new voice added. Dawn jumped, not noticing that Iris had been listening in. She turned her head and grinned as Iris' eyes were full of mischief. In the little time she and Iris had spent talking, she could tell they were going to get along fine.

"I had no idea you thought so highly of me, Dawn!" An arm slung over her shoulder as Ash shoved his way between her and Cilan. She rolled her eyes and nudged him roughly in the ribs, then turned her attention back to Iris.

"You know, this one time, we were eating at a really nice restaurant and Ash went to the rest room. He was gone for ages and so Brock and I paid the bill and waited for him at the bar. He didn't notice and sat down by the next customers, chatting away to them until he looked up and realised they weren't us!"

Iris and Cilan had begun sniggering before she'd finished her story, but joined in with her full burst of laughter, and the arm around her shoulders tensed up. She glanced up to see Ash's neck had turned pokeball red. He shot a playful look at her and chucked too.

"I wouldn't push it, Dawn. You know I have stories about you, too." He threatened.

"You wouldn't." She gasped, her eyes widening.

After some half-hearted begging from Iris and Cilan, Dawn had begun to squeal. "No please don't!"

"What's it worth?" He teased.

She glared at him, and it was enough to make him back down. "Okay okay."

Iris sniggered behind Dawn, and she threw her a quick grin too. They began chattering about little things, walking slightly ahead of Cilan and Ash.

"How long is she staying with us?" Cilan asked quietly, watching carefully for Ash's reaction. Unfortunately, Ash was too caught up in the happy vibes to react much at all.

"Don't know." He shrugged. "She's fine to come along with us though, right?"

"Of course she is."

Ash nodded, a smile spreading across his face as Pikachu leapt for his perch. It was an automatic thing to hold his arm out for the small pokemon and allow it to scamper up to his shoulder. The weight was a comforting one, after the many years.

Piplup had found comfort in Dawn's arms again. She rarely allowed him out of the pokeball lately, and he couldn't help but wonder whether it was the return of Ash at her side was he allowed to stay out again.

"Here we are!" Iris suddenly stopped walking, and Dawn bumped into her.

"Where?" She asked sheepishly as she took a step back and managed to bump into Ash instead. He chuckled, having to steer her aside so as not to collide into Cilan as well. The trio were staring at her now in amusement.

"The gym of course." Ash nudged her, then nodded to the building Iris had stopped at. "That's what I'm here for, you know."

"Oh." She muttered, _of course._

* * *

><p>After the pleasantries, the gym leader named Burgh had not wasted any time in leading them to the battle area, and released a tiny crab like pokemon with a rock formation upon it's back. Dawn lifted her pokedex automatically, but it beeped at her and informed her that it was in need of an update.<p>

"It's a Dwebble." Cilan informed her. "I have one myself."

She looked at him and smiled. "Well that's good, Ash must know a little about them then."

"That's a good theory, but Burgh looks like a good match with this Dwebble. I don't think they're going to be easy to defeat." He observed as his finger stroked his chin absent mindedly.

Just as Dawn had predicted, Ash had been smart enough not to use Pikachu, and instead opted with his water pokemon named Oshawott. A smart advantage to give him an edge, but she had never doubted his knowledge.

Oshawott was about the size of Piplup, and had the ego to match. It was striking how similar the two water types were, especially in their fierce determination and deep care for their trainer that was evident at just a glance.

"The challenger may take the first attack." Burgh offered with a gesture in Ash's direction.

Not one to give up such an offer, Ash called to his pokemon quickly. "Aqua Jet, let's go!"

Oshawott coiled down on itself, then sprung into the air as water vaporised and propelled it forward. The Dwebble didn't flinch as the water attack closed in, and at the last second it leapt away, take the heavy looking rock formation on it's back with it.

"X-scissor!"

Having been recovering from the false landing, Oshawott had not been paying attention to Dwebble's incoming attack, and took the dual slashes across it's head. The attack threw Oshawott backwards, rolling along the jagged floor that Dwebble easily negotiated.

"Dig!" Burgh added, leaving Ash no time to counter. The little water type stood up and began swinging its head around restlessly in search of it's opponent.

"Calm down, Oshawott! Use water gun on the floor!" Ash demanded, getting the attention of his pokemon. It nodded and quickly squirted towards the floor, making it powerful enough to throw it in the air. Dwebble had just made it's move as Oshawott left the floor, and took the water gun straight to the face, crashing back down into it's hole.

Just as Oshawott stopped, Ash rolled out another attack. "Follow it! Use Razor shell!"

With a fierce - yet ridiculously adorable - battle cry, the water type threw itself after the still recovering Dwebble, scalchop in paw and ready to as they both disappeared into the hole, Dwebble yelped in pain as dust scattered everywhere, only clearing to reveal the first battle had been won by Ash.

In replacement of his first pokemon, Burgh released another strange pokemon that Dawn had never seen before. It's body was round and bulky, with eyes tucked in the rings of it's large circular body and antennae and spikes were protruding all around it's body. If she could guess at anything, the wheel-like body would suggest this was a speedy pokemon, and speed was often a difficult thing for Ash.

"Are you okay to continue?" Ash asked, and Oshawott grinned, beckoning cockily to the pokemon called Whirlipede. Burgh laughed and started on the offence.

"Steam roller!"

Just as Dawn had expected, the pokemon rolled like a wheel, and was just as fast as any car. It zipped toward Oshawott in a blur, and sent the little water type flying.

"Solar Beam!"

With Oshawott incapacitated, Ash could only watch as Whirlipede charged and attacked, landing squarely on Oshawott's scalchop. Ash could not ask any more of the pokemon at such a disadvantage, it succumbed to the powerful grass attack instantly.

"Thanks Oshawott, you did great!" He said as the pokemon returned to it's pokeball to rest. With very little pause for thought, Ash's next choice was a tiny fire pokemon he called Tepig.

"Nice choice." Iris commented, then eyed up Whirlipede. "Tepig is fast, perhaps it can match Whirlipede's speed."

Just as Burgh had, Ash took advantage of the brief pause to attack the unsuspecting opponent. "Flame Charge!"

Dawn had never heard of such a move, and watched in awe as fire whipped up around the tiny pokemon, and then it crashed forward, seemingly unstoppable.

Burgh, however, was ready to prove otherwise. "Iron Defence!"

The two pokemon collided, and a billow of dust gushed in every direction from the impact. Both knowing their pokemon would be fine, the two trainers continued to command their respective partners despite being blind.

"Tepig! Ember!"

"Poison sting, Whirlipede!"

Once again, the attacks collided, neither team coming off worse. The two were very evenly matched. Dawn glanced over to Cilan, who was frowning in deep thought.

Burgh seemed relentless in his assault now Whirlipede had the iron-like armour. "Steamroller, now!"

Tepig tried to avoid the incoming attacks, but each one was increasingly close to hitting it, and eventually the attack landed. Tepig was flung across the room, skidding along the dirt until the momentum came to a stop. Weakly, it struggled to a stand.

"Ember once more, Tepig!" Ash cried encouragingly. A little more spurred on, the tiny fire type unleashed an attack that was far too powerful looking to have been a mere ember attack, Dawn recognised it instantly. "That's a flamethrower!"

Ash grinned. "That's great Tepig!"

Whirlipede didn't seem to impressed, having lost it's defence now and was taking the full heat of the incoming flamethrower.

"Another steamroller, into the flame!" Burgh countered fearlessly. Iris gasped beside Dawn, and even Cilan seemed shocked. Dawn, however, knew all too well the effect fast spinning could have on special attacks. The pokemon leapt forward and began rolling rapidly, redirecting the fire immediately and Whirlipede semed to come out unscathed.

However, the same could not be said for Tepig, who could not take another hit.

While Ash returned his pokemon and thanked it, Dawn turned to Cilan. "That Whirlipede is fast."

Iris agreed with her. "Burgh isn't a gym leader for no reason."

"I wonder who Ash will choose..." Cilan muttered, watching the battle arena closely.

It was rather obvious for Dawn, when Ash was backed into a corner, Pikachu is at hand to turn the tide. Of course she was right, smiling as Ash looked down at his little counterpart and muttered a little encouragement.

"Of course..." Iris giggled lightly.

Pikachu leapt forward onto the battle area, and electricity crackled threateningly from it's cheeks.

Burgh smiled, this time not letting Ash take the first move and called for yet another steamroller. He clearly knew that this foreign pokemon was not one to be messed with and wanted to be rid of the threat as soon as possible.

Ash, however, was more than ready for this line of offence. "Quick attack! Bounce on Whirlipede!"

Pikachu did as asked, shooting forward at a blinding speed only electric types could pull off, and slammed on top of the bug type opponent, effectively ruining the steamroller attack and hurtling into the air.

"Electro Ball!"

Using the momentum from falling, Pikachu rolled forward in mid-air, flicking a large electrical pulse from its tail once it had closed in and ended Whirlipede's run in two attacks.

Ash grinned, pleased that he had evened out the match and Pikachu was barely winded.

Of course, Burgh had saved his strongest for last, but so had Ash. A large bug type landed daintily on the other end of the field, a crown of leaves adorning it gracefully. Ash's pokedex rang out its name and attributes, revealing it to be called a Leavanny.

Burgh gestured for Ash to take the next move, to which he replied with another quick attack. To the shock of the room, Leavanny merely side stepped the attack and managed to somehow latch onto on of Pikachu's legs.

"String shot." Burgh commanded, having obviously led Ash and Pikachu into a trap.

Dawn sprang up from her seat in surprise, causing her fellow audience to flinch away from her. It was unusual for a gym leader to use moves in any other way than their conventional attack, and yet Burgh was moving like a coordinator. She gasped at the beauty of it, as well as being conflicted as Pikachu took the attack and was flung across the room while utterly immobilized.

"No way!" She grinned, completely entranced. Burgh cast a glance in her direction and smiled, but he was much too focussed to give her any more attention than that.

"Hyper Beam!"

Despite Pikachu's frantic struggling, the string would not give, and it had no choice but to brace for the strong incoming attack. With little in the way of protection, the mouse pokemon slammed against the back wall of the gym, and slid down to the ground, still very much in the fight, and fortunately freed of it's bondage.

"Okay Pikachu, thunder!"

With a fierce growl as their synchronised competitiveness kicked in, the electric type leapt into the air and suddenly clenched it's muscles, releasing an unavoidable thunder storm. The only noise above it was Leavanny's cry of pain as it took the attack.

"Now!" Ash cried unexpectedly, making them all jump. Pikachu was still mid-attack and going strong, but it seemed they'd had a plan all along, as the pokemon released it's charge and tumbled toward Leavanny, crashing it's iron tail onto it's head.

Even with the barrage of attacks, the gym leader's pokemon struggled to stand, and Pikachu was panting from the pressure it had applied. It seemed to have levelled the playing field, but Leavanny certainly wouldn't have the energy for another hyper beam any time soon.

With that know, Ash decided he needed to make a move before Leavanny could muster the strength to deliver a sure knock out. "Electro ball!"

Pikachu nodded and obeyed, spinning on the spot rather than jumping into a tumble so the electricity crackled along the floor and left a fissure in it's wake.

"Protect."

With the electro ball deflected, it kicked up a large cloud of dust, blinding everybody in the room from the events in the centre. Ash coughed and pressed his glove over his mouth, then yelled for another thunder attack.

Burgh seemed to have a similar idea in lashing out in all directions, his attack taking the form of a leaf storm. The elemental attacks collided and exploded, throwing back both of the pokemon, leaving them to struggle up once more as the dust settled.

"Let's finish this! Volt Tackle!"

"I couldn't agree more! Giga Impact!"

The two pokemon propelled themselves forward at alarming speeds, charging up in a tremendous amount of energy. The spectators braced themselves, and the explosion that occurred was deafening.

With their ears ringing and their eyes still struggling to see again from the bright flash, they squinted to see if there was a winner.

The duelling pokemon stared one another down, knees shaking and chests heaving. It would be mere moments before one of them would inevitably collapse, sheer force of will being the only thing that delayed them.

Dawn instinctively knew who would win out the stand off.

Leavanny's knees gave way, and the bug type crumpled to the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>Ugh, I've been so stuck with this chapter, doing like a sentence a day for ages. FINALLY I got a roll on and it turns out I've done double my usual chapter. Hopefully it makes up for the delay. <strong>

**Btw, I know Pikachu "forgot" volt tackle but I love that move so artistic license!**


	25. Surrounded

With the cause for celebration, Cilan had prepared a feast of delicacies, all of which were delicious. Ash had gone completely silent as he crammed in his food, save for a few moans of bliss as something touched his taste buds particularly well.

Dawn watched him carefully, ready to spring to his assistance should he start choking. She couldn't blame him though, the food tasted beautiful.

Cilan seemed to be in his element, bringing out new trays that somehow got better each time, and Dawn couldn't help but notice how he'd observed what she particularly liked and made something of a similar taste. All the while he acted like it was second nature, which probably was the case. It was only when Ash was groaning as he clutched his stomach did he stop. There were still a few plates with a remainder of food on them, but it didn't seem to bother anybody.

"That was great, Cilan." Ash huffed, glancing down at Pikachu who was in a similar state. "I think I need a nap now."

Iris chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should have paced yourself a little better."

"But then the food goes cold!" He protested, and they laughed together until he couldn't stand his full stomach clenching repetitively any longer. Another groan escaped his lips. Carefully, he stood and lifted Pikachu, teasing the small pokemon about the weight gain, then glancing up in Dawn's direction. "Wake me up in an hour or so?"

She nodded and smiled, but she knew that if he did actually get to sleep, there was no way she was going to disrupt that. Even if she'd wanted to, it was a near impossible task to wake him once he was under.

Cilan suddenly stirred once Ash was gone, and began scooping up the cutlery and plates.

"No, Cilan. I'll do that." Dawn objected.

Iris agreed, taking the pile of him. "You've done the cooking. We should do the cleaning up after."

He smiled at them, then headed up the stairs after Ash so he could take a shower.

"Come on then." Iris nudged her as they both began to clear away. They agreed on a system of Iris washing while Dawn dried and put away, and settled into a nice rhythm.

"We don't get to talk much." Iris said, glancing in Dawn's direction then back down at the dish she was cleaning.

"No, it's hard to get a word in edgeways with Ash around." She agreed, and they chuckled. It seemed that mocking Ash was their common trait and they were not above exploiting this fact. They chattered endlessly about meaningless things in a way that only girls can do, and it was a relief for the both of them.

"I don't get to do this very often." Dawn admitted, her voice still tinkling with a residue of laughter. "Almost all my friends are guys!" She thought of Zoey, her old rival and closest female friend, but now with the Sinnoh contest season over, they'd seen very little of one another. Now that they were in separate regions too...

"Me neither. I like travelling with Ash and Cilan, but it's even better that you're here now." Iris grinned, handing her the last fork to dry up.

The comment sent a nervous tingle down Dawn's spine, though she couldn't understand why at first. She focussed on tidying the cutlery away and tried to ignore her intuition.

"Do you think you'll keep travelling with us?" Iris pressed when Dawn didn't answer.

She pursed her lips, unsure of how to answer. "I- umm..."

"Ash is a lot happier with you here." The unovan girl murmured, as if she were trying to persuade Dawn, or make her feel guilty.

In an attempt to distract her, Dawn gestured to the kettle. "Tea?"

"Mmm, yeah that sounds good." She nodded eagerly.

They settled into two comfortable sofas around a fire with their mugs and sipped silently for a while. Dawn hoped the topic that put her on edge was passed and Iris would give up. Thankfully, she didn't press the issue further.

"Do you like Ash?"

Or not.

Dawn laughed, albeit nervously. "Of course I do."

Iris gave her a look that told her she wasn't fooling anybody by feigning nonchalance. When the stare became too much pressure to ignore, Dawn sighed. "I don't know... I've never thought of him in that way."

Silence.

"Why, do you?"

"What? No way!" Iris exclaimed, then suddenly flinched when the other people in the room turned and stared. She spoke again in a lowered tone. "I can't see Ash ever being that way with anybody."

Dawn giggled, knowing exactly what she meant. Ash was clueless about anything to do with girls. To him, calling Iris a girl would be just a means to differentiate between her and Cilan. Just the same as saying she was purple haired and Cilan had green. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't imagine Ash making a move on anybody.

Surely that didn't mean he was destined to be alone with his pokemon forever though. He would eventually find somebody, wouldn't he? She could run a few names through her mind of the girls who had taken interest in him, there were bound to be more... One would catch his eye. When he was ready.

"I'm tired." Iris suddenly yawned. It seemed Dawn had dozed off in thought and left Iris bored. She stood and took Dawn's mug, then they headed up the stairs. Just as they reached their door, Iris paused and turned on her. "Give the idea some thought, will you? Travelling with us might do you some good?" And with that, she disappeared into the bathroom.

Some good? What was that supposed to mean? Was she not doing good now? Did her inner turmoil show so obviously that even people who had known her little over 24 hours see it? She hung her head in shame and slipped into the bed that was supposed to be Ash's.

* * *

><p>"No!"<p>

She woke with a start, her protesting cry making her jump and sit upright. The same dream as the night before. Some subconscious thought was probing away at her dreams and she would get little rest until she settled the little niggle.

As reality hit her, she glanced over the room and met a pair of concerned eyes. It seemed that Cilan wasn't the deepest of sleepers, unlike his two travelling companions.

"Are you okay?" He whispered, pushing his voice as loud as he dared, his eyes darting to see if he'd disturbed Iris' slumber.

Dawn nodded quickly and shuddered. "It was just a nightmare." She assured him, though it seemed like she needed to convince herself that too.

"Would you like to talk about it?" He asked quietly.

She opened her mouth to politely turn down his offer, but the gentle look in his eyes and his caring demeanour gave her an odd sense of security. It made her want to talk to him, and ask for his advice.

"Yes please." She muttered, slightly ashamed of the desperation she was showing to somebody she barely knew. He didn't once seem like he was patronising her in any way as he ushered her down the stairs with a gentle hand on the small of her back, and she knew she'd made the right choice in confiding in him when he placed a warm cocoa in her hands. Then, instead of taking a seat opposite her, like she'd expected, he was quite intent on sitting right next to her, his body twisted to face her properly.

Once he'd settled into a comfortable position and sipped at his own drink, he gestured toward her. "Okay, what happened."

And she explained. About how she'd been travelling with a friend, and he was the focus of the dream and the forest he travelled through, about how strange a forest it was. Cilan did not interrupt once, but his brow furrowed deeper as she explained, and then shot up in surprise at something she said.

"What?"

He shook his head slightly, in a way that confused people did when they were trying to clear their head. "Nothing, but Dawn..." He paused in thought for a second, then glanced up at her. "There is a forest, just like the one you described. We travelled through it to get here, but you can't have if you came from Nimbasa."

"What does that mean?" Dawn gasped.

They went quiet for a second, and Cilan shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps we should check it out."

"What, do you think I'm having some sort of premonition?" She squeaked, frightened by this potential reality.

"Or the past." Cilan mused. "There are certain Pokemon can send messages to the brain..."

She pursed her lips. "What does that mean?"

He shook his head slightly, just as baffled as she was. Her thoughts ran wild as the possibility of Paul being in trouble again flashed through her imagination. When it became too much to bear, she sprang up from her seat and started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Cilan asked, leaping up and catching up to her easily with his long legs.

"I have to look. I shouldn't have left him." She muttered rapidly, like a mad woman crazed by fear.

A hand came down her shoulder to stop her before she could leave. "Dawn-"

"What if he really is out there, hurt?" She asked sharply, trying to shrug Cilan off.

"You're going to go search for him in your nightwear?" He asked lightly, then looked down. "With no shoes?"

She scowled and yanked her shoulder from his grip. "I have to at least try."

"It's dark out, Dawn. You're not going to find him tonight. We'll go first thing in the morning." He tried to persuade her, his hands forming peace making gestures.

She looked out the window and bit her lip.

"You trust your friend?" Cilan asked.

"Yes." She did not hesitate.

"Then you have to trust he's okay, he travelled alone before, didn't he?"

She nodded slowly, trying to see the logic in Cilan's words, but her stomach was still knotted in worry.

"Come on." He held his hand out to her. She looked at it warily, but trusted him enough to know what was the right thing to do. She allowed him to lead her back to the room, and she lay obediently back in bed. Of course she was far too busy fretting to sleep, but he was asleep in minutes.

What if Cilan was right, what if Paul was stuck in the forest and some pokemon was trying to call for Dawn's help.

She tried to tell herself how unlikely it was, how could a pokemon know to contact her, if Paul was so hurt, but the small doubt in her head lingered to keep her worrying, and she was rapidly beginning to hyperventilate in panic.

It didn't matter if it was dark out, Quilava could help illuminate the path. She could at least try, at best it would put her mind at ease.

Her mind made up, she slipped into the bathroom and changed quickly and quietly, then left the room with nothing but a note on her bed. They would come looking for her, but she would be long gone and hopefully would have found Paul, safe.

She decided to try the hospital first, and attempt to retrace his steps. Though she doubted he would have lingered, it was the last place she'd seen him, and it was the only idea she had other than to go blindly into the forest. A forest which she had no idea which direction it was in.

The receptionist at the hospital informed her that Paul had checked out the day before, and that he hadn't returned. She had no other information for her, no direction or possible lead.

With a sigh, Dawn took to the dark streets again, and began looking for signs to get her into this forest. She didn't have the confidence to ask some of the people wandering around in the early hour of the morning, some were drunken, others were weary and coming home from a night shift and some she would have avoided even in the day time.

She rounded a corner, gasping in a short breath as a face appeared in front of her. Big blue eyes lit up in delight. "Meloetta!"

"Mellaaaa!" It cried, grasping onto Dawn's neck as they embraced.

"I've been worried about you, where have you been?"

As the pokemon pulled away, it became apparent that her bright blue eyes were not delighted, but frightened. The small pokemon grasped onto Dawn's hand and tugged, then let go and began flitting away hurriedly. Dawn knew instinctively to follow, unsure where they were headed.

"Meloetta!" She called out after the pokemon, but she didn't stop to reply, just wheeled around another building and down an alley. Several nocturnal pokemon scuttled away back into their homes as Dawn teared through the back streets, her footfalls echoing loudly as she ran. She was rasping for breath when she rounded the last corner and stumbled to a stop as she faced an unexpected sight.

She had come face to face with the ocean when she reached the harbour at one end of the city, now, it seemed, the other end had an entirely different ocean. A vast sea of sand than went for miles in each direction surrounded the north side of Castelia. It dawned on her that she had been unconscious during the journey from Nimbassa to Castelia, and so she wouldn't have known they'd come through a desert to get to the hospital.

She only had a moment to wrap her head around it all, as Meloetta took off over the sands, and she had to start running too. She was thankful for the night, that it was cooler than what day time promised in the desert, but she knew that wasn't going to last for too long.

Where was she going? Would she be able to get back?

The questions were making her feet reluctant to take her further, but Meloetta suddenly yelped a high pitched cry, and her eyes snapped up to see the problem.

They were surrounded.


	26. Lucid

"Go Meloetta!" Dawn yelled quickly as she swatted the pokemon away. "Go! We'll hold them off!"

She had already released Piplup, and she was quick to add Mamoswine to the frontline. She couldn't afford to have more than two pokemon out at a time and let them fend for themselves, though they were seriously outnumbered, at least three to one. If they were to fight effectively, she needed to be able to coordinate them.

The leading Plasma grunt cackled and gestured to one of the men behind her. "Follow the pokemon, make sure it doesn't get away!"

Electivire was already blocking that grunt from following, but was quickly distracted by a pair of Krokorok who were easily deflecting the electric type attacks.

"Nice of you to join us." The dry comment came from behind her.

She glanced over. "It was lucky Meloetta had the sense to find me." She replied, then raised her voice louder. "Hydro pump!" Piplup obeyed quickly, fending off the attacking ground types for Electivire. They shared a smile to each other, then set off into the fight again, this time together.

They could barely have a catch up session while in such a disadvantaged battle, Paul seemed to have been fighting for quite a while, as his pokemon were weak at the knees, but still had enough energy to keep going for a little while longer. Scattered around the vicinity were several already fainted pokemon, none of which were Paul's.

"Ice shard!"

Paul added to the frozen Watchog's worries by having his Ursaring use hammer arm on it's immobilized body, effectively adding to the pile of fainted pokemon.

Though their pokemon were superior in strength, being ridiculously outnumbered was taking it's toll quickly. Dawn hissed as a Scrafty had taken a liking to using a strange fire type move called incinerate on Mamoswine, and it was chipping away at the large ice type's health rapidly. She knew that all they could do was hold the group back for as long as possible before they would have to run. There was no way they'd get through all seven of these trainer's teams. For every pokemon that fainted, the grunt just added another to the fight.

Piplup suddenly soared through the air, having to be caught by Ursaring as the tiny powerhouse succumbed to the ruthless assault from the pack of Krokorok.

"No!" Dawn cried, running for her pokemon instinctively, like a mother would for her child.

"Dawn NO!"

Something suddenly lashed along her arm and yanked her away from Ursaring, who was holding her Piplup. She had mere moments to look down at the wire that had wound around her wrist and see a strange contraption on the other end of the wire, held by the lead grunt. She had not been fighting, but waiting for the opportunity of when one of them had stepped out of the protection of Electivire.

One second Dawn had been tugged to the floor, the next her arm registered intense burning, and within the same moment her body convulsed as electricity coursed through it. Her muscles tensed and a scream left her mouth, her whole body protesting to the pain. The moment the electrocuting ceased, everything in her body stopped too, and she fell forward into the sand, not even her reflexes moving her head and leaving her face down in the sand.

Though still in shock that anybody would resort to attacking a physically weaker human with a method only pokemon could handle, Paul had already started to run forward to stop them from hurting her. Electivire managed to block another whip from landing, it wasn't quick enough to stop a rock throw that landed squarely on Paul's chest and throwing him aside.

Dazed, but still awake, he stumbled up to a stand. Ursaring had gone into a frenzy of vengeance for it's trainer, resulting in the end of the pack of Krokorok's bullying, but more pokemon took their place, and Paul's remaining pokemon were becoming overwhelmed.

Still winded, Paul managed to wheeze out a few commands while he desperately tried to think of a plan. He couldn't run. He didn't have the breath in him to run alone, and he would have to carry Dawn too. While he toyed with Honchkrow's pokeball, his plan was no longer needed as a huge bolt of electricity ran through the close vicinity, effecting all of the plasma pokemon together. He looked behind him to find a familiar Pikachu had joined in the fight, and of course his old rival was right behind his pokemon.

"Good to see you Paul!" Ash laughed, releasing a pokemon Paul recognised to be the grass type starter of Unova, a Snivy. His two new friends had one pokemon in battle each, neither of which Paul recognised, but they seemed to be holding their own.

As much as he loathe to admit it, it was good to see Ash too, in the particular moment.

* * *

><p>With the Plasma grunts retreating with their tails between their legs, the four remaining conscious humans circled around Dawn, but it was Cilan who checked her over.<p>

"No signs of broken bones, but she's got severe burns and bruising along her arm. Second degree." He observed, gently prodding the sore area. As he gently felt the small round bone in her wrist, a hiss came from her mouth. They all turned to look at her as she opened her eyes.

"Watch where you're touching, Cilan." She scolded.

"Sorry." He chuckled, then frowned as he looked up at Paul. "I guess you were right about your friend here."

"He wasn't in the forest though." Dawn allowed, chuckling as Paul looked down at her in confusion. Before she could explain, she hissed again. "Ow, Cilan let go!"

"How does it feel?" Ash asked quietly.

"Stings a bit." She chuckled, though she was pretty certain if she didn't laugh the pain off, she would be crying. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably in response to the damage, and she was fairly certain that the skin bubbling and swelling so quickly was a bad sign. A wave of nausea set in, though it was being fended off by the shock her body was in.

"We ought to get you to a hospital." Iris said, already placing her hands under Dawn's shoulders to help her sit up.

"All the hospitals are full at the moment, she won't be a priority." Paul frowned, his eyes still focussed on the burn.

Dawn shook her head. "I'm fine, they have more important emergencies to worry about than this."

"It still needs to be checked, Dawn, it's blistering." Cilan told her as they stood her up. She wobbled a little, her head still fuzzy from unconsciousness, but after a moment of letting the blood rush down her body, she was able to walk at a steady pace.

Iris began rambling about Plasma, wondering what they were after. It was Ash who explained Dawn's story, seeing how Dawn was having a hard time concentrating on walking whilst dizzy. Cilan listened too, though his attention was more on directing Dawn with a hand gently placed on the small of her back.

The more they walked, the more pain registered in Dawn's body. Her foot stumbled forward as she lost concentration, but two pairs of hands managed to catch her. Unfortunately, Paul's reflexes hadn't been as well aimed as Cilan's, he'd managed to catch her, but one hand clutched her wrist. She recoiled back in pain, yelping at him and throwing him off balance.

"I'm sorry!" He barked, his hands shooting up in a surrender, only to hiss in his own pain. It distracted Dawn from her own pain as she frowned.

"What? What's wrong?"

He shook his head, though he had paled significantly. "Nothing. Took a rock throw. I'm okay."

"Paul, you could have broken ribs!" Cilan told him, his face already full of concern for the stranger on the other side of Dawn.

"It's fine."

Now that Dawn had noticed, Paul's breathing was shallow and quick, like any deeper breaths would cause him pain. He winced as he placed a hand around his chest and touched at his side.

"You should let Cilan check you, Paul." Dawn muttered.

"No. Can't do anything about broken ribs. You need your burn checked. It could get infected." He insisted. "Keep moving." His short sentences were frightening her, it was like he couldn't get enough space in his chest to breath.

However, Cilan agreed with him. "We should get you to the pokemon centre. Nurse Joy will know about electric burns."

* * *

><p>Nurse Joy was quick an efficient, leading them all into a treatment room to check them over. She began with Dawn, because of the burn which had only gotten worse as they had made their way to the centre, and she began using many remedies and painkillers to make Dawn comfortable.<p>

"I'm sure your friend here could explain to you about this," Nurse Joy explained as she eyed Pikachu. "There are two types of electrical attacks, thankfully you were hit by the less fatal type."

Dawn looked over at Ash, who nodded, but it was Paul who explained.

"Offensive and stunning." He huffed quietly. "You were stunned. That's why you fainted after."

She nodded once, frowning at the way Paul hunched over as he sat down on a bench. He never hunched, which meant he was in serious pain.

Nurse Joy had noticed this too, and had called in her Audino to fetch a medicine with a fancy name. Paul started to protest, but was silenced with one look from the Nurse.

"You had good sense to come here, though." Joy continued as she applied a salve to Dawn's wrist. "The doctors in the hospital only treat heat burns really, since it's most common for humans. I see stun burns a lot. On pokemon of course, but skin is skin, right?"

Dawn nodded once her eyes still on Paul, but the Audino had returned with painkillers then passed around water to all of them. Parched from the morning heat of the desert, none of them could stop themselves from finishing their glasses, so the assistant pokemon scurried off to fetch more.

After an X-ray -in a rather embarrassingly large machine that was obviously used for bigger pokemon-, Joy decided Paul's ribs weren't broken but severely bruised. She told him it would take up to four weeks to heal completely, but as long as he took it easy and used the painkillers properly, he would be okay to travel once the worst of the pain was gone. She assigned them a large room to share that was close to her dorm in case they should need her, and was told to sleep for as long as they could. Cilan and Iris decided that they would go shopping so they could eat something fresh in the evening, but they had to convince Ash to join them, as he seemed reluctant to leave.

Eventually, it was quiet in the room, leaving Dawn to wonder aloud. "What's his problem?"

Paul's speech was slightly garbled, but she was still able to make sense of it. "Doesn't want to leave you with me."

She frowned. "Why would you say that? He trusts you."

He snorted, then groaned at the movement it caused in his ribs. "He trusts me as far as he can throw."

"That's not true." She insisted, but he said nothing more of it.

The circumstances she was in suddenly occurred to her. She was back in the same room as Paul, who she'd felt guilty about leaving for days now. She couldn't find it in her to apologise again though.

"How's your arm?" He asked quietly through a tiny sigh.

She had been trying not to think about it. "Uncomfortable. You?"

"Same."

"We should sleep." She suggested, she hadn't slept properly in days and she could feel the weight on her eyelids. Whatever needed to be said between them would have to be out in the open fast or wait until after she'd rested.

He grumbled a sound of agreement, but even several silent minutes later, she could tell he hadn't fallen asleep.

"Dawn?" He muttered quietly, testing to see if she was awake. She made a sound to inform him that she was. He didn't say anything after that, and for a little while she wondered whether he'd fallen asleep, but she glanced over his way to see that he was frowning and concentrating on something deeply.

"Are you in pain?" She asked, sitting up to fetch Nurse Joy.

"No," he assured her, "I'm a little numb to be honest."

She nodded and lay back down.

"Sorry."

She looked back over to his bed, he was staring up at the ceiling intensely, refusing to look in her direction. She didn't bother asking him the obvious follow up question, knowing he would explain.

"You keep getting hurt." His voice was barely a grumble, and he sighed a deep breath to make up for his many short ones. "I hurt you, and keep letting you get hurt."

"No-" she began protesting, but he interrupted her.

"The moment we're fit to travel, I'll take you back to Sinnoh. Back home." He told her, his tone finalising the discussion.

They were quiet again, but she couldn't help but feel slightly hurt by the way he was just casting her off. "Where will you go?"

"Don't know. Not coming back here, that's for certain. Kanto probably." He replied, his mind wandering to a time that seemed so long ago, when he'd been planning to go to Kanto but certain events had put the plans on hold. It can't have been mere weeks ago, could it?

"...But I said I'd stay with you."

His thoughts were cut off abruptly, and his couldn't help but look at her pained expression. When the hurt in her eyes became too much, he gulped and looked away.

"I wish you didn't promise things like that." He told her. "Only married couples promise to stay together."

She frowned, not liking the way he dismissed her admission. "Friends stick together."

He snorted once. "Like you and Ash?"

She inhaled sharply and sat up. "We decided to part ways."

"Just as we have."

"Have we?" She asked, jutting her chin out. Her stubbornness was betrayed by her swimming eyes, and she blinked rapidly to banish the threatening tears. "Because I don't remember agreeing to it."

"Well you could have fooled me!" He raised his voice, sitting up as well. "If I remember correctly, you were all up for returning to Sinnoh and leaving me here the other morning. Have you forgotten?"

She turned red, though she didn't know whether it was from embarrassment or anger. "I made a mistake, but if you don't want me around then I'll take the damn hint!"

"Good! Because I sure as hell could use the peace and quiet!"

"Fine!" She yelled, storming for the door, but before she opened it, she swung back to face him. "I wanted to leave because I was frightened to show you how much you'd hurt me." Tears began spilling. "I guess I just fell for your façade, you don't give a damn about anybody but yourself!"

He winced at the sound of the door slamming, and then began fuming to himself. Trust her to turn on the waterworks and make him out to be the monster in the argument. She was definitely not the victim here, neither of them were angels. He stood and paced the room, his arm curling around his side to support his chest. The angry pace was wearing down his painkillers quickly, but it only made him angrier. Didn't give a damn about her? He took a brutal attack for her!

But as her words ran through his head again, they were no longer igniting his fury. What façade had she fallen for? And what did that mean anyway? Fallen? Did she mean it in more ways than one? Why was she so damn confusing?

The door swung open, and Paul swivelled around to see Ash in the opening to the room.

"What the hell is your problem?" He yelled, shrugging Pikachu off his shoulder as he marched up closer.

Paul frowned, looking down his nose from his superior height to sneer down at Ash. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Though he was pretty sure he did. He would have seen Dawn as he re-entered the pokemon centre, and put two and two together.

"Don't screw with me, Paul. And definitely don't screw with Dawn or so help me-" his venting cut off as he clenched his fists, stepping even closer to Paul to really come toe to toe with him.

"Back away." Paul warned.

"You're going to stay away from her." Ash threatened, which only made Paul's itching need to annoy him worse.

"Back. Off." He growled, but Ash only growled straight back. Instinct cause Paul's hand to lash out and push Ash back by his shoulder, but it only set off a spark in Ash, and he shoved straight back.

The pain was nauseating, but he just hissed and shoved his forearm across Ash's chest to make him stumble back as Paul curled over himself.

Ash gripped onto Paul's shoulder and lifted him to stand upright. "Just because you're hurt-"

"No, Ash!" Dawn was suddenly there, yanking back her old friend with her good arm. "Go downstairs!" She ordered.

"But-"

"Now, I don't want to see you." She snapped, and her glare was enough to tell him that the worst was yet to come. He grimaced, and slunk back out of the room.

While she waited and watched Ash close the door, Paul had slumped back onto the edge of his bed and was fumbling for painkillers. He was fairly certain he wasn't ready for another dose, but they clearly weren't doing their job any more.

"Here." She breathed, opening the bottle for him and tipping out two capsules. She assisted him as he shakily knocked them back with water, and place the bottle back onto his bedside table. "Sleep." She told him, coaxing him gently to lie straight on the bed.

"Dawn-"

"Shh." She covered him in the quilt and adjusted his pillow. "Sleep."

He shook his head weakly, drowsiness kicking in quickly. "You've_ fallen_... for me?"

She watched him carefully as she brushed his hair out of his face. His eyes weren't focussing on her very well at all, and a sheen of sweat began dewing on his forehead.

"I think so." She whispered, sure he wasn't lucid enough to remember. She hushed gently until he fell asleep, and then slipped into her own bed, thankful for how easily sleep found her too.


	27. Resolving

It was dark when he opened his eyes again, and he hadn't felt so well rested in a long while. Nurse Joy must have given him some powerful sleep inducers. He clicked his joints and groaned at the muted pain in his ribs, fumbling for the next dose of painkiller. It wasn't until he'd taken them did he suddenly notice the whimpering noise coming from the bathroom. The sound was familiar, from the nights he'd been woken by Dawn's nightmares, but she can't have been sleeping in the en suite.

He slipped out of bed and knocked gently on the door. "Dawn?"

She didn't reply, but she gasped at his voice.

"Are you okay?" He pressed, his eyes on the door handle, though he knew better than to try and open it. That kind of action only had one result.

"...mm-fine." She replied.

"Do you need help?"

There was a silence from her, until she finally said; "I'm struggling to get dressed."

_Oh._ Heat spread through his neck and cheeks like wildfire, and he unconsciously took a tiny step away from the door. He could imagine the drama that would occur if he touched that door handle. Despite what people may have thought about him, Reggie had brought him up to have at least some gentlemanly qualities, and at the moment they were screaming to have him turn away and leave the room, but also help a girl in distress. It was a very conflicting problem.

"Shall I fetch Nurse Joy?" He asked tentatively.

The sound of struggling came from the other side of the door and then it stopped abruptly. "N-no it's fine. I've got my vest and shorts on."

The door suddenly pulled open, and Paul shut his eyes and turned away quickly.

"I'm decent, Paul, don't have a hernia." She chuckled, her voice passing him and moving further into the room. "I could do with a little help with my socks though. It's hard doing it with one hand."

With a deep breath, he turned and dutifully swept up her socks, kneeling before her carefully so as not to curve his spine further than in his comfortable range, and began tugging up the socks onto her pointed feet.

"I feel like such a child." She chuckled ruefully, and he glanced up at her with a perked brow. Of course, he hadn't been expecting what he saw. For as long as he'd known her, he'd been inevitably aware of her choice in short shorts and skirts. Seeing her legs were never the frightening thing he'd been brought up to expect. However, when she'd said vest, she'd meant it lightly. It was quite obviously made for lining the underneath of her actual tank top, as it was thin and barely reached the bottom of her ribs. Decent was not the word he would have described her as. With a suddenly dry mouth, he couldn't make a comment as he looked straight back down at her socks as casually as possible.

"I told the others to eat, we can go out and get something, yeah?" She asked him tentatively.

He nodded once.

"I figured we needed to talk, you know... Figure out a plan."

He paused mid-knotting her shoelaces, and looked up at her. "You still want to travel with me?"

She frowned. "Well yeah... If you want."

He tilted his head, trying to make sense of her. "Why?"

"...If you don't want me to, that's fine, honestly-"

"No, why would you _want _to keep travelling with me after last night?" He asked.

She inhaled sharply, her frown deepening. "It was just a fight, Paul. We were tired and in pain."

"There were truths in what we said though." He countered, perking a brow at her. She gulped subtly, questioning how conscious he was last night. Cursing her stupidity, she tried to compose herself to respond.

"Um-"

"You're right, we should talk over dinner. I'm starving." He complained, standing up and turning to let her finish getting dressed. Before he could leave, she sprang up from the bed.

"I can't wear this shirt." She sighed, "the sleeve will rub constantly."

He turned back to her and observed the garment she held up. She pursed her lip, and attempted to roll up the sleeve. It only made it tighter and more uncomfortable.

"Here."

A shirt landed over her head, she hadn't been looking to catch it, and she pulled it off to see it was one of Paul's spares. A simple grey t-shirt with a thick white hem at the bottom. Carefully, she placed her hand through first and hoisted the rest of the shirt on afterwards. It was very long on her, given the owner's height compared to her, but she tucked it into her shorts and smiled up at him.

With a roll of the eyes, he grunted and headed for the door. "I'm hungry."

* * *

><p>They found a small food stand close to the harbour and decided to eat on the edge of the city, their legs dangling a few feet above the gentle waters. Even with their history at sea, it was impossible to not feel the calm in the atmosphere.<p>

Though they had said they needed to talk, they were far too content to eat in silence, taking in the view. The sun had set hours ago, but the moon glittered across the ocean almost as if it were dancing.

"Paul?"

He ripped his eyes away from the view to look at her as she looked down at her lap nervously.

"I tried to go home..." She muttered, and though Paul wasn't surprised, it didn't sound like that was the end of her sentence. She peeked up at him, then just as quickly found her lap again. "I tried, but... I'm frightened."

He nodded, understanding instantly. He'd be lying if he said he any different, he just had a better way of hiding it. She looked at him again, but this time she was waiting to see his reaction. "Do we have to go home yet? I don't-" she cut herself off before she could make a fool of herself.

Still, Paul pressed. "Don't what?"

With a sigh, she looked back out at the sea, but found her feet. "I don't want to be alone again."

Despite his natural assumptions, he was surprised to find that he felt similarly. The thought of travelling alone again with the only company being his pokemon, was somehow not calling to him at all. With a sigh, he stood up and offered a hand to help her up too. She looked at him with a puzzled look, then stood too.

"Unova doesn't seem like a bad idea." He told her, being the only words he could bare to say without admitting the embarrassing truth.

Her face lit up. "We can travel together?"

He shrugged as if indifferent. "Sure."

He wasn't sure whether the noise she made was human, but it was definitely a delighted sound, and a high pitched one too. He winced away from the ear-ear-piercing she'd induced, and then stumbled back as she tackled into him. He looked down at her to see she'd tucked her head to one side and was squeezing his chest as she rocked him side to side, a jubilant giggle escaping her.

"Then it's official! The Unova journey begins! With no more drama, and lots more battles!" She pulled away, her hands still lingering on his arms as she awaited his response.

All he could do was nod and force out a nonchalant grunt. The unease of her very forward contact with him made him shy away and shrug her off, but his stubborn pride would not let him show that, so he straightened out his jacket and stalked off, knowing she would follow.

How many opportunities was he going to brush off? She'd very clearly shown her interest in him, several times over, so he couldn't understand what his problem was.

"Where do you think we should go first?" Dawn babbled, far too caught up in the idea of travelling to have noticed Paul's internal conflict.

He didn't respond, knowing very well she was talking to herself now.

"Perhaps we should go to the first gym that Ash battled, that's where Cilan was a gym leader..." She rambled. "I know there isn't any contests in Unova, but I'm sure I'll find something to do! Plus I'll get to cheer you on. Oh! Do you even want to battle gyms here?"

He shook out of his own thoughts and glanced down at her and rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"Great! Think of the pokemon here... We should send out pokemon to Sinnoh and start from scratch, don't you think?"

"What? Why?" Paul blinked, the idea was so preposterous to him he honestly couldn't understand her.

She too was confused, "Because it's a new journey."

"But I've trained my current pokemon. Why would I want to start from scratch with a whole new team?" He asked.

She paused. He did have a point. Perhaps Ash was just different in that respect, but even he brought Pikachu to every region he went to,perhaps Paul was attached to all his pokemon so much he didn't want to send any of them away. Somehow that didn't sound right.

"If I see a pokemon worth my time, I'll catch it, but until then I'm keeping my team just the way it is." He told her indignantly.

She stayed quiet for a little while, taking in what he had said. When she'd finally gone over everything and come to her own conclusions, she giggled. He frowned at her. "What?" He demanded.

Shaking her head, she continued to giggle as she explained. "I used to think you were annoyingly arrogant, back when I first met you. Now I know you're just very particular about things."

He tensed. "I am not."

"Yes you are! You like things one certain way and if it doesn't go that way you turn red like you are now." She pointed to his neck, and he could feel the heat that was betraying him as she mocked him.

She nudged him gently, her tone still teasing. "It's not a bad thing, Paul. You just have to be open to change every so often."

He didn't respond, instead he focussed on opening the door to the pokemon centre and letting her walk in before him.

"Paul? Could I just give you a check up?" Nurse Joy called the moment he'd walked in. He looked at Dawn, who nodded and gestured to where her friends were sat. "I need to talk to Ash, anyway."

He nodded and followed Nurse Joy into the treatment room, and he realised the pain he was in after being distracted for so long. Dawn must have squeezed hard when she'd hugged him. How foolishly distracted must he have been to have not noticed the pain she was inflicting.

And if he was so bemused with her company, why couldn't he act upon it?

Open to change.

Perhaps that _was_ his problem.


	28. Fears

She found him huddled on a sofa while Iris perched on one arm and Cilan had settled in an armchair. They all seemed to be focussed on the television that was hung on the wall, until Dawn rounded the corner and passed Iris to slump on the other side of the sofa to Ash. He stiffened and sat up, making it obvious that he was trying to avoid eye contact with her but fighting the curiosity to see what her mood was.

Instead of responding with a dry remark, she focussed on the TV too, because the news was very close to home.

"Investigations are being carried out as the freak storms are appearing across Unova with irregular patterns. Experts believe the source is to be a pokemon, but little else is known. More news on this story as it comes." The reporter reeled off with her monotonous voice.

"Paul said that ages ago." Dawn muttered, glancing over to Cilan, who seemed to have the most knowledge of pokemon behaviour out of all of them. He was nodding thoughtfully, a finger pressing across his lips.

"It is probable, there's very little reasoning for storms of such ferocity to be occurring this frequently and being natural." He muttered.

Iris, whose eyes hadn't left the screen as they showed footage of the Nimbasa catastrophe, added her own opinion. "Whatever it is, it's angry and powerful."

"Just like when me and Pikachu first arrived here. We got hit by an electrical storm." Ash said, looking down at his pokemon who roused at the sound of his name.

Before they could continue debating, Dawn hushed them as the next story appeared. The news reporter appeared, and behind her a picture of two oddly dressed men caught on a security camera appeared.

"In other news, there have been several confirmed sightings of the reunited Team Plasma. The crime organisation that had disbanded two years ago has made small appearances across Unova. Their motives and hideouts are unknown. Police are calling for witnesses to give any information they can."

The report continued, but they had all stopped listening and glanced at each other nervously. They all knew the question they were thinking, and at the same time they all knew the answer. Of course they needed to report their experiences with Team Plasma, Nurse Joy probably already has.

Instead of voicing the conversation they already knew the conclusion to, Dawn spoke up first. "Can I talk to you privately, please?"

The tenseness in Ash's body returned immediately as he calculated her even tone. He used to be able to read her like an open book, but she'd spent a lot of time with a certain person whose emotions were very rarely shown and it was evident that the trait had rubbed off on her a little.

He attempted to gulp but his mouth was too dry and his throat too tight. "Umm... Sure." He replied hoarsely, following her hesitantly as she headed out of the room.

She didn't talk for what seemed like forever, and he'd begun to sweat. He couldn't even see her face as she led him out of the pokemon centre and onto a small seating area in the gardens where healing pokemon get fresh air. Several nocturnal pokemon scurried away at their presence, and Dawn sat on a bench close to the pond. With little else to do, he sat beside her and stared at a Tympole as it swam through the cool waters.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Dawn suddenly said in a hushed tone. She had been reluctant to disturb the peaceful night. "I know you were only protecting me... You shouldn't have shoved Paul though."

"I know... I'm sorry. I just don't like seeing you hurt, and I got angry." He admitted shamefully, his head ducking slightly. A hand rested gently on his forearm, making him look back up at her.

"It's not me you should be apologising to." She smiled gently, but it disappeared quickly. "I'm going to be travelling with Paul again."

She felt his arm go rigid for a second, but she could see he was trying to fight away his initial reaction as he nodded tersely. "I trust your judgement, Dawn. Just don't get hurt again."

A smile crept up on her again and she nudged him playfully. "No need to worry, if we argue again I'll get Quilava to set his pants on fire."

"But these are my last pair."

Ash and Dawn swivelled around on the bench to find Paul had been approaching them and heard the end of their conversation. She giggled and raised a brow. "I wouldn't argue with me again then."

He fought the urge to smirk and instead managed to roll his eyes.

"Hey Paul?" Ash spoke up. "I'm really sorry about before, I didn't hurt you too bad?"

Paul snorted and shook his head, then looked at Dawn. "Nurse Joy wants to see you."

Her smile brightened and she sprung up. "I guess it's my turn for a check up. Night Ash."

"Night Dawn."

Knowing Paul wasn't going to need sleep any time soon, she arranged to meet him in the television area, so they could see if there was any more news on the Team Plasma issue.

She sat in silence as they watched the report being repeated until she could take it no longer. "What are you thinking?"

He took a moment to reply as he asked the question himself, and found himself asking more questions instead. "I'd like to know what they want with Meloetta, from what I've seen, they don't look like manic collectors."

Not sure how to respond, she chose not to. Instead she tucked her feet up to one side and rested her injured hand across her thigh. "What do we tell the police tomorrow?"

With a sigh, Paul turned the television channel over and then looked at her. "Everything, I guess. The quicker these morons are off the streets, the quicker we can start with our journey."

She took that in for a second, then pursed her lips. "But they've been beaten before, haven't they? It's like Team Galactic all over again. They always come back."

As the reality of Dawn's words sunk in, Paul's mind ran over the memories of Team Rocket, and Reggie's experience with Team Galactic. Though they'd quietened down after they'd beaten them senseless and thwarted their plans, they'd always managed to return with a vengeance.

"The police aren't going to be able to stop them, not them all." Dawn muttered.

"It's a start, they'll get rid of a lot of them." He replied surely. They would have to believe it.

For a few hours, they flicked through the channels, hoping to find more news, but there was very little other than the aftermath of destruction and a gathering of people and pokemon trying to fix the once great city.

By the early morning hours, Paul had begun to yawn. He glanced over to Dawn to see she'd already succumbed to slumber, her mouth slack which usually meant she'd been out for over an hour. Though he was reluctant to, he shuffled over to her and shook her awake.

"Dawn? Go to bed, I can't carry you." He muttered as gently as his gruff tone would allow. She prized her bleary eyes open and yawned, allowing him to tow her to the room and into her bed. Within seconds, she was breathing deeply again.

* * *

><p>The peace of the room shattered with a deafening scream, everybody's eyes shot open to look for the source, though they all instinctively knew where to look.<p>

Ash had been the first to respond, realising Dawn's problem as she struggled from the tight sheet cocoon she'd bundled herself up in. He managed to prize the end of the sheet from around her leg only to have it lash out at him and kick him squarely in the chest. He landed on the floor against his bed, severely winded.

With one leg free, she quickly unwrapped herself from the rest, still ringing out like a siren. The moment she was clear of the bed she began to run for the door, but Ash had already stood and caught her wrist, trying to shake sense into her as she continued to struggle. Cilan and Iris watched in bewilderment, having never seen somebody so catatonic before.

"No! No! Let me go!" She screeched, clawing at his hand until he recoiled from her. The locked door only seemed to make her more frantic as she began to wail harder, fumbling around at the locks. "Let me out! Let me out!"

The door unlocked and she sprinted for the stairs, crying out for the one person her dreams had feared for.

"I'm right here Dawn!" He shouted over her, cutting her off in surprise. She stumbled to a stop and turned her head slowly to face him, afraid it was her mind playing tricks on her. There he was, concern marred by the annoyance of being abruptly awoken, surrounded by the other dwellers of the pokemon centre with similar looks of frustration on their face as they peered out of their rooms.

"Dawn, dear! What's the matter?" Nurse Joy placed a hand on her shoulder, wearing her nightgown and her hair flowing down her back.

With a nervous shrug from under the elder woman's grasp, Dawn hurried over to Paul, her face burying into his shoulder in embarrassment.

"Nightmares. Sorry. Must have been a bad one tonight." Paul apologised, glaring over to those who murmured about her. They turned back into their rooms and shut the doors, very little care for a girl who had been through more than they could imagine. A burning hatred welled up in him, how dare they judge her when they didn't know the circumstances?

"Not to worry, Dawn. It's not surprising after current events, dear. No harm done." Nurse Joy tried to assure her.

Barely able to form a coherent sentence through her keening, she merely nodded. Paul muttered another apology then manoeuvred her back into their room to escape the remaining accusational stares before he caused another scene.

Ash's hand found hers, and two others found her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. Paul stepped back as the other three surrounded her into a hug, allowing her to sob for a little while longer.

"It was just a dream Dawn, everything is fine." Cilan told her, a dexterous finger brushing her hair from her face gently.

"No need to worry." Ash murmured, a tiny smile forming on his lips at the beauty of their little phrase.

"Nothing's going to hurt you while I'm around, Dawn." Iris assured her as she pulled away and grinned at her. Dawn managed a weak smile in return, and the three returned to bed. Paul had already sat on his, but was watching her carefully, offering no words of encouragement but the look in his eyes said more than any words could convey.

She flicked the lights off and crept silently over to Paul's bed, knowing it was his comfort she needed more than anything. Feeling he was alive would settle her mind into allowing her to have another hour or two of sleep, or so she hoped.

Without a word, she crawled up onto his bed and found waiting arms to guide her to sleep next to him. Like he'd known what she was going to do the moment she looked his way. They shuffled until they were comfortable, her head finding the perfect crook in his shoulder than was comfortable for her and not aggravating his ribs, and her arm wound around his middle, clutching onto him like he would disappear should she let go. He could help but feel slightly nervous of the arrangement given the fellow room mates, but he chose not to care, given the circumstances. Instead, he absentmindedly ran his fingers through her silky hair until she fell back to sleep.


End file.
